A New Time
by Ency Peterson
Summary: After being hurled into the future, our favorite foursome is sent on a mission where the wizarding world has a new enemy.  Being sent to Hogwarts looking like they did as kids but with adult mentalities, they are supposed to investigate the school.
1. Reunion

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

It had been a while since he'd sent Kanda and Alma to their peaceful end in Mater. Allen decided to visit the place. What he saw when he finally arrived surprised him. Kanda sat there, holding Alma with a peaceful smile on his face. Beside the duo lay the dead petals of a lotus. It didn't surprise Allen that there was something else he didn't know about the man. He sighed.

"What do you want, moyashi?" Kanda's voice demanded.

"To be sure you rest in peace, Bakanda," Allen smiled as he was walking away from the bodies he believed were dead.

"Why would you want that when there are still stupid akuma after us?" Kanda stood. "I've survived much worse before, but now, I no longer am cursed and unable to feel for friends."

"You won't be summoning him back?"

"Unlike you, moyashi, I have no reason to despair over Alma's death. I just have to keep alive the same way the rest of the world does. I can't heal fast anymore."

"Really? How about we return and see what's changed?" he smiled.

"Are you serious? You have me come here and leave me for three goddamn years, and then ask me to see what's changed? Are you stupid?"

"I think we should find out what's happened. I can easily get into the Black Order, you know. If you want I'll even help you get revenge on the sadists who created you. I have my own reasons for going back there."

"You still disgust me with your stupid ideals," Kanda grumbled even as he stood to go with him.

Before he followed Allen into the bright lights, he looked at Alma's dead body, "I'm sorry old friend that I couldn't save you from that hell. I'm sorry that I must leave you like this. I will never forget you, Alma," he swore.

Arriving in Headquarters, Allen looked surprised at the flurry of movement. He thought things wouldn't have changed much in the three years since he'd disappeared, but it seemed everyone was joyous. Kanda glared at one finder who tried to approach the pair.

"Allen, you're home!" Linali suddenly appeared. "That's great! How is Kanda with you? I thought he died with Alma?"

"Long story," Allen smiled, before he saw a certain blonde inspector.

"Great," Kanda glared at the man. "Are we going to be arrested now?"

"What? Oh, Kanda, Allen, good we've got a lot to brief you on."

This surprised both men. They thought for sure they'd both be questioned.

"It's Miranda's Innocence. It moved everyone in the Black Order to a different time and place. Things are a lot more advanced and you'll have to keep what you are a secret from now on. Also, all of us from our time must keep who we are a secret. There's a new Black Order and we just keep an eye on them. This means that even Hevlaska is unsure what is going on. Don't worry, though. Central and Leverrier weren't brought with us. Jerry was, Miranda and Krory were. Also, don't worry, we need everyone we have on these missions. It seems Lavi and Bookman are still with us, even if they did turn traitor."

"They're Bookmen, Link. What they did was nothing compared to what I am," Allen shrugged, "besides they're supposed to be neutral. Are you saying I'm no longer an enemy?"

"We can't call anyone from our time an enemy. We might seriously screw things up. It seems Miranda's Innocence is something quite different than we thought. Perhaps even the Heart."

"It's not," Allen dismissed this possibility.

"Doesn't matter anymore. You're a General now. Kanda is to be your bodyguard and if that Noah is listening, Kanda is also to be protected by him if he doesn't wish to be locked up again."

"As if you could," Kanda snorted.

"If we were still in our time, you know you'd both have been immediately captured. As it is, if you look closely at Kanda, he's as he was before we found out about Alma. As far as Miranda knew about him and his abilities so he has the fast healing but not the curse. He has all of his Innocence abilities. Miranda is currently stuck in a detrimental state. None of the General's came with us except you, Allen. That's why Komui said when you got here with Kanda to send you straight to him."


	2. Mission

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

"What do you want?" Kanda demanded of the man.

"You, Linali, Lavi, and Allen are going to de-age back to eleven years old to infiltrate a very special boarding school. You'll be given new aliases, but we've got to get you on their list somehow."

"We're already there, brother," Linali spoke from the door, a tray of coffee in her hands. "And now we just have to get the supplies so we can be prepared for our first semester at Hogwarts. And after we've completed a whole year there, who knows what's going to happen. We have to change our looks too, but we don't have to change our personality."

"What's our names to be?" Lavi seemed way too excited.

"It's nothing big, and three of us will be easy to hide right under their noses. Allen you'll also have to where gloves,at _all _times. It seems that long-haired men are actually common and so are tattoos, but your left arm is still going to raise questions. Your scar can be passed for a tattoo, you know."

"Really?" Allen smiled at that thought. "Let's get into our roles now."

"Just a moment. Reever managed to put together a concoction with Tapp and Johnny, yes Miranda's Innocence brought Tapp with us, that you'll have to take every day at the exact time you take it this first time, I think that's how it works. It'll take you back to what you looked like at age eleven, so Allen you spent three years before coming to the Order with Marian Cross as his apprentice. When you did come you were fifteen, correct?"

"Yes, but even if I look like that, I'll still have my deformed arm, and I might still have my curse."

"We'll deal with whatever happens. But I think you'll each need to take the concoction for each of you at different times. If we could have gotten you in as teachers, we would have, but they check every little credential for their teachers now. They aren't quite as good about checking students since there is much that contributes to whether they get into the school at all."

"Then I'm going, idiot. Tell me when we get back why we have to hide who we really are."

"Kanda, I thought it had only been three years, but it sounds like Miranda transported us through time."

"And Hogwarts had several years where strange things occurred. Also our finders can't get in through it's barrier. It's almost like the repeating town. Allen you must avoid activating your innocence. This concoction should only make you look as you did at age eleven. I'd like to see Allen first at that age, so why don't you try it first. I need to see what each of you look like before you guys go."

Kanda glared at him.

"It's so I know who the eleven-year-olds running around here are," Komui smiled. "Of course I remember what Linali looked like, so I'm trusting you three to keep the other boys at bay, even if you all end up in different houses, I think someone said they were called that."

"If we end up in different houses, how are we supposed to perform whatever our mission is?" Kanda demanded. "If you ever get around to telling us what said mission is."

"You'll be investigating the school. You'll age according to normal kids if you keep taking your concoction," Komui smiled as he watched Allen drink the concoction.

They all looked in surprise as Allen digressed to a brown haired boy who had bluish-grey eyes and no scar. The only indicator of him actually being Allen was the disfigured arm that he had had when he'd first arrived at the Order. An arm that looked like it was that of a demon though a mitten covered it.

"Where's Mana?" the eleven-year-old asked looking at the man, "I'm Allen, who are you?"

The four looked at him in surprise. "Do you not remember anything?"

"Neah says I should wait before asking him to reveal what's going on. He says that all I need to know right now is that I have a mission that I must perform. Anything else I might need to know, he'll tell me as time goes on. I just have to remember to keep my promise to save the akuma and humans. He said that the first time my arm activates, he'll let me have complete control over my Innocence, but until then I should just remember that you guys are my family," Allen seemed scared. "But I last remember being with Mana. Where is he?"

"We are sorry, but he's¾" Komui began to explain.

He cut himself off when he realized that Allen wasn't listening to him.

"Brother, will we end up forgetting like Allen did?" Linali asked as Lavi downed his concoction at the same time Kanda did. They both just wanted to get things over with.

_This is an amazing thing, Komui. I'm surprised the Panda didn't come with us. I guess I'll have to keep up our traditions since he's not here, _Lavi thought to himself.

_If the moyashi hadn't picked me up from Mater, I wouldn't be here now, _Kanda admitted to himself. "I'll keep him safe. If it costs me my life, I'll keep moyashi safe at this Hogwarts," he promised aloud. "Your sister, however, can take care of herself."

Linali, after listening to Lavi and Kanda say the concoction wasn't so bad, drank hers. While Lavi and Allen had changed dramatically in looks, Kanda and Linali looked much the same.

"Only you two need to remember that you could be mistaken for your real selves if anyone from the current Order shows up, and they might. Some of our finders saw some of theirs, luckily they managed to stay hidden.


	3. Train Ride

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Weeks later they were looking for their platform the train station King's Cross when Allen asked, "Why do the tickets say Platform 9¾?"

"Because, it's not a normal school, Marian," Lavi said pushing a hand through his black hair.

"That's not my...oh, right, I forgot, sorry, Larry," Allen had started to argue with him.

"It's okay, kiddo. You still have Walker as your last name, it's common enough. Unlike the rest of us who had complete changes," Larry whispered to the brown-haired kid.

"Hey, _Larry_, you didn't have any problems adapting, did you?" Kanda demanded.

"I'm special like that, you know," Larry smiled.

"Well, remember we were lucky to come to this particular school. I've heard that we almost didn't get to."

"Why?" Allen asked politely.

"Because Larry and Kevin couldn't stop arguing with each other since they found out we could each be in a different house."

"But they're really good friends aren't they, Mathilda?" Marian asked.

"We need to find out how to get on the stupid train."

"Maybe we just need to walk through the pillar?" Larry asked. "It's not like this isn't a special school, you know. It could be like home where we had to pass the gate's test?"

"You go first, Larry," Kevin ordered.

"Sure, but I'm taking my stuff with me, we don't need to draw attention to ourselves yet," Larry seemed happy.

After Larry had made it through safely, Marian followed. After him went Kevin followed by Mathilda. When they saw the train, they each managed to pull their own luggage on their own, but they couldn't get into a compartment of their own. A small boy joined them.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want to share a compartment with any of my family members. My name's Severus Potter. I'm named after my grandfather who was allegedly named after a headmaster of Hogwarts.

"Really?" Mathilda asked, "Well I'm Mathilda Tailor. That's Larry Hammer, Kevin Sword, and Marian Walker," she introduced themselves.

Marian looked at the boy, "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said politely.

Larry grinned at the boy, while Kevin only glared.

"Are you guys always this quiet?" Severus asked only for Mathilda to laugh.

"Oh, usually those three are at each other's throats over something stupid. If my brother were here it would be a lot worse, right, Larry?"

"Your brother has a stupid complex," Kevin growled as a food cart traveled by.

At the sound of the woman asking if anyone would like snacks, three sets of hands suddenly covered Marian's mouth.

"We aren't hungry, but thank you," Mathilda told the woman even as Severus looked at them strangely.

"Well, I'll have some chocolate frogs," He said as he handed over some money like they'd seen Komui use in the places they'd gotten their supplies.

"Marian, we'll get to eat at the school, I promise," Kevin whispered. "Do you really want to cause Komui to become broke before we even arrive?"

"No," Marian smiled at the other boy, "I'm sorry. I didn't think about that. At home we never have to worry, so I didn't think it would be a burden to anyone."

"It's okay, Marian," Mathilda smiled at the boy. "I'm going to change into our robes. I'd prefer if you guys go ahead and change as well. I'd hate to find out we were on the grounds before we even changed."

Severus was laughing, "You sound like my Aunt Hermione"

"Oh?"

"She believes we should be ready for anything, but great-grandpa says he only ever winged it."

"I happen to know a few others who believed in your great-grandpa's philosophy of winging it," Mathilda laughed.

She was changed fairly quickly, but she waited until Larry told her it was safe to reenter the room. When she did, Severus was gaping at Kevin and Marian, while Larry was laughing his head off.

"Uhmm, isn't it about time for Marian to take his medicine?" Mathilda reminded them.

"It might be," Larry admitted, "but he said that Neah said he should wait until we get to the school. "Apparently, Neah wants him to push through the pain as long as possible. He said that Neah said that his eye wouldn't work properly for another three weeks."

"Where's Tim?" Kevin suddenly asked.

"Probably hiding somewhere. He hasn't been the same since Miranda's clock malfunctioned," Larry shrugged. "Besides, we couldn't bring him anyway. You know it's not on the list of approved creatures. That's why we each got an owl. We have to keep Komui apprised of our progress. Also, I'm surprised at you, Kevin. What did you name yours?"

"I'm not telling you," he glared out the window.

"But we all told you what we named ours, remember?" Marian pleaded.

Kevin looked at Marian with soft eyes, "Moyashi."

"My name isn't that word," Marian said.

"This is why I didn't want to tell you. Because of Marian's reaction."

"Oh, it's your owl's name?" Marian asked, happily.

"Why are you wearing gloves, Marian?" Severus suddenly asked.

Mathilda, Kevin, and Larry immediately turned protective around Marian.

"It's a skin allergy. My arms and hands can't be exposed to most metals," Marian lied exactly as the voice in his head told him to.

"I think there's more to it than that, Marian," a voice spat from the door of their open compartment.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Kevin demanded itching for his sword which was in his luggage.

"I just mean that you four have more secrets than that Harry Potter ever did."

"Why would we keep secrets when it would be detrimental to our health as well as everyone in the wizarding world?" Mathilda demanded.

"Because you have secrets. Doesn't everybody," Larry suddenly laughed. "Remember what you told us about your brother, Mathilda? How he was terrified to reunite all of us?"

"But that's because you three always seem to be arguing enough to destroy the building when you _are _together."

"I don't remember you guys before meeting you this summer," Marian pouted.

"It's okay, remember what Neah told you?"

Marian nodded.


	4. First Year

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

They were waiting outside the great hall before their feast and sorting ceremony, when a stream of ghosts floated in. Marian was terrified. What if he wasn't sorted in with one of his friends. Severus it seemed had been a second year and was in Gryffindor. The boy who'd been outside their compartment had been a seventh year named George Weasley. He'd also been in Gryffindor and was apparently one of Severus' many cousins.

Marian, Larry, Kevin, and Mathilda didn't seem the least bit surprised by the ghosts, though several of the other first years were. It was strange for them. They didn't know what they were doing there, but they knew whatever it was was important to the war against the Millennium Earl. They were there on a mission, one that could take more than seven years to complete. If that happened they already had new stories to start over with. Finally an old witch walked in front of them.

"I am Headmistress Juniper. You will line up before entering the Great Hall. You will be quiet as you wait your turn to be sorted."

Nobody spoke even as they followed the witch single file.

The first years looked at a chair that sat in front of the Hall. On it sat a black wizard's cap. Marian was suddenly covering his left eye as it changed from mouse brown to red and black, focusing on the hat. The only ones other than the teachers who noticed were Larry, Kevin and Mathilda. They looked at each other worriedly even as Marian kept that eye both covered and closed. They were all quiet as the hat spoke.

_Welcome to a new year_

_Something special lingers here_

_Centuries ago I was made_

_To help to choose for the greats_

_Gryffindor the brave_

_Daring deeds and thorough too_

_Hufflepuff the loyal_

_The just and tolerant_

_Ravenclaw the wise_

_Brains and smarts are their life_

_Slytherin the ambitious_

_Sly and cunning through and through_

_Where will you go_

_What is your home_

_Never fear_

_They made me_

_To help make that choice_

_For I can see_

_What they hunt _

_Though they live no more_

_And now you are_

_With that all said_

_It's time to begin_

_A new year to sort_

_So take a seat_

_Pop me on_

_And I'll tell you where_

_You're meant to be_

Marian looked up after it was done speaking after taking a deep breathe. It seemed as though he was terrified of opening his left eye. The students went up to be sorted one by one in alphabetical order. Larry was the first of the four exorcists to be sorted into Ravenclaw. When it was Kevin's turn the hat surprised the spectators by placing the angry-looking boy in Gryffindor rather than Slytherin. Mathilda was placed in Hufflepuff.

Now it was Marian's turn. He was the last and each of his friends were hoping he'd be placed in the same house as them, but they feared he would be on his own.

_What's this? _the hat spoke to Allen. _It won't do you any good trying to hide who you are._

_Aah, but he's not trying to, Mr. Hat of the Ages, _Neah spoke.

_What's going on, Neah? Why did I have to come here? Where's Mana?_ Allen asked the voices in his head timidly.

_You'll learn soon enough. It seems there are some problems in this school? _Neah directed the last at the Hat.

_You are well-versed on problems, aren't you? Well, well if you're so concerned about it, I guess I should put you in__¾_

_You'll put Marian in Slytherin._

_I want to be in the same place as Kevin, though, Neah. Or Larry. They at least talk to me easily._

_Aah, but we have a promise to opposing sides to keep, remember, Clown?_

_But Neah, I don't want to be left alone. Besides, what if I slip up?_

_You truly are able to keep things from me, aren't you, Neah? _the Hat asked surprised. _Not even Harry Potter or Dumbledore were able to but you, Hammer, Sword, and Tailor have secrets hidden deep and memories that shouldn't exist. At least they didn't have multiple personalities. I guess I'll put you in _

"SLYTHERIN" the Hat yelled out after what seemed like an eternity.

_Go to the table with green and don't even think about activating that arm of yours on me. I'm not here to hurt people and I wasn't created by what those creatures that you must fight were created by._

Marian placed the hat on the chair and bowed to it in thanks. "I'll keep my promise, Mr. Hat," he whispered, not knowing what he'd meant about his arm or fighting creatures, before going to the table he was told to.

"Now that that's over, you should probably eat," the headmistress spoke, "but first I must remind you that Muggle items that have no sentimental value are _not _allowed among first years, nor are brooms. The Forbidden Forest has it's name because it is forbidden to students. Do not go in there without a teacher. Also, those who have animals who are not on the approved animal list are to be sent home tonight."

At that moment, an old man walked in carrying what looked like a plant.

"Professor Juniper," he said holding the plant out, "this just arrived for a kid whose last name is Walker. It won't stop trying to bite me."

Larry began laughing. It was almost hysterical laughter.

"Marian, your master surely hates you to send you that here, aah, but I know you love the thing!" he called from his table.

"Of course," Marian managed to stutter as he stood to accept the plant. To the plant he said, "I know it's been a long time, Roseanne. I really do love you, you know. I didn't mean to leave you for so long. I promise that I do love you, Roseanne," he moved to give the plant a hug.

Surprisingly, the plant let go of the old man and latched on to Marian in happiness.

"You'll need to put that plant in the greenhouse," the headmistress frowned at the boy.

"I won't forget about you, Roseanne, I promise," the boy ignored the headmistress, "I love you."

Larry couldn't stop his laughter, until Marian walked over to him with the plant. Then suddenly he was professing his love for the carnivorous plant as well, causing Mathilda to laugh and even Kevin grinned. Marian smiled.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Larry," he said politely. "I only have Mana and Neah. And you guys and Komui. I don't remember¾"

"Marian," Kevin spoke, "We're waiting on you to eat."

Marian immediately went back to the table he'd been at and eagerly waited, drooling a little as he did. The headmistress looked at him a little strangely before continuing with her announcements. Finally she told them she had three more words to say. They were words that the foursome didn't recognize, but immediately afterwards, food appeared. Marian didn't even seem surprised at how it appeared. He immediately started digging in like he hadn't eaten in a year, but he ate elegantly and with little extra mess, like some of the students might have. It seemed as though Marian was the center of attention for only a few seconds before he heard their laughter, his friends.

"Always had a huge appetite, didn't you, Marian?" Larry was heard.

"Leave him alone, Larry. Can't we at least eat without you trying to piss someone off?" Kevin yelled at him.

"Don't fight, guys. We _had_ heard that he always had that huge appetite, remember? _We_ at least were prepared. We kind of forgot to warn the others," Mathilda sighed.

"I'm sorry. I thought we could eat our fill," Marian apologized.

"Idiot, you're fine," Kevin growled. "Eat up, so that we can go to bed."

"Okay," Marian grinned.

They ate ignoring the strange looks from everyone else. In all actually, there weren't many problems their first year and even though they were in different houses, they managed to eat together and spend time together. When Larry made the others in his entire year get mad at him, they saw a strange glint in his eye. It was like the hyper boy wanted them to get angry at him. When they finished that year, they had found no trace of problems in modern times, only far back in history, though it really wasn't that far back compared to when they were from. They had found the secrets Harry Potter and Tom Marvolo had found, plus some. They hadn't been trying except when they needed a secure room to talk about their mission in. When they had heard about the Interhouse Quidditch tournament, they all agreed not to join their house teams. They already had enough, and even though both Mathilda and Marian were offered spots on their house teams, they both declined, keeping their promises. They managed not to have any arguments that first year and after that first night no one thought about harassing Marian or the other three who hung out with him.


	5. Second Year Arrival

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Second year was different. They got on the train without problem, but they noticed a group of eight kids wearing outfits that were similar yet different from what they had once worn. Komui had decided that since they were in a different time they wouldn't wear any uniform that might indicate that they were exorcists, so when working with the order, they wore plain black school-like uniforms. When traveling, they got to choose what they wore, except Marian whose clothes were picked for him so he wouldn't stand out.

When they got on the train, they immediately chose a compartment closed the door and locked it. Marian seemed terrified as though he'd been told that an enemy lingered outside.

"Why would Neah say to keep away from them?" Marian looked terrified.

"Because they could take Mana away for good," Mathilda felt a twinge of guilt as she lied to the innocent boy.

"No!" he cried, "I want to see Mana again!"

"Shut up, Moyashi, or do you want them to find us?" Kevin pulled the boy into his arms.

"We aren't going to hurt him, Allen," Kevin whispered. "We aren't your enemies. Neah just knows that those eight in those uniforms may have something to do with why Mana hasn't been around."

His use of Marian's original name shocked all three of those in the compartment.

"Kevin?" Marian asked, "I thought we weren't allowed to use those names out here?"

"We aren't," Kevin answered. "I just know it's easier for him to calm down and listen because I used his name. We'll be safe, but I think it's this year that he'll be allowed to remember, so we have nothing else to do until it happens."

"Why don't we change into our robes? Then we can unlock the compartment. Perhaps, Severus will join us again?" Mathilda suggested.

"Why do we want that nosy brat in here with us?" Kevin demanded even as he began to change and Mathilda disappeared into a different part.

After they'd finished changing, they reopened the compartment doors. Unluckily the group of eight were standing around looking for a place to sit.

Mathilda sighed, "You guys might want to sit down somewhere. We've got a bit of a ride."

"Can we sit in there with you? We don't know anyone and all of the other compartments are full."

"Kevin, you might want to keep a strong grip on Marian," she gave in and called into the compartment before letting the group of eight enter the compartment.

Marian was stunned into silence as he watched the eight people who he had just been warned away from. He didn't speak as he buried himself in Kevin's lap.

"What's his deal?" One girl in the group asked angrily. Her hair was bright red and she had grey eyes.

"Beansprout doesn't like strangers," Kevin growled. "Don't try to get too close to him. He's going to be painfully shy."

"Kevin, be nice. I can't believe you would actually try to hurt Marian more than he already is going to be."

"I'm _not_ hurting Marian, am I?" he started to deny only to finish by asking the small boy in his lap.

"Oh, come on. Mathilda, we all three know that Marian hates to leave Kevin's side," Larry laughed. "It's not like any of us really have a choice, do we? If we did, none of us would have been separated. Besides, it's amazing the things that you learn if you're in different houses!"

"Larry, it doesn't matter. We could always try to find the problems the Hat mentioned last year."

"We tried last year. We found nothing other than school secrets, remember?" Kevin glared.

"Aah, but when we found that chamber, I was surprised."

"Myrtle invited me," Marian sniffled. "How was I supposed to know that _that_ was there?" he shuddered. "The poor creature!"

"What creature?" a voice asked from the door.

"Severus!" Mathilda exclaimed happily.

"Already in robes?" the now third year asked.

"We thought it would be easier. When did you get on?"

"Before we left," he grinned. "What creature were you guys just talking about?"

"It was a huge snake before it was killed," Marian's face was buried in Kevin's chest. "It didn't deserve death even if it was living below the school."

"We don't know that, Marian," Kevin whispered to him. "Remember things tend to happen for a reason. If it was what Larry believes it too have been, then someone probably killed it in self-defense."

"But how can that be?" Marian asked.

"Larry thinks it was a basilisk," Mathilda reminded him.

"But, Neah said it was just a huge snake!"

"Neah wouldn't be completely wrong," Larry told him. "But let's not dwell on that. The train should begin moving soon. Where's George?"

"Graduated," Severus answered, "It's not stopping his younger brother Fred from thinking of a prank to play on the first years."

"I doubt anything will beat Roseanne from last year," Larry laughed.

"But who sent it to him?"

"We aren't sure. His Master has been missing for a long time. He only barely remembers his past," Larry answered Severus' question. "Besides, Sev, it surprised everyone! Including the teachers!"

"It still doesn't beat the rumors I heard of my uncle and his twin's exit from the school. You know that bit of swamp in the one corridor?" at Marian, Larry, Kevin, and Mathilda's nods and smiles, Severus continued. "That was their doing. They really hated school that year, from what I understand. Even had their brooms taken away so they couldn't play Quidditch. Is it true you guys turned down playing Quidditch last year?"

"Well, none of us want to compete against each other. We have other things to do," Mathilda explained even as Kevin glared.

"If it wouldn't possibly break relationships, I wouldn't care, but some people are always about the competition and take it off the field as well. That's how _some _wars begin," Larry said.

"But why wouldn't anyone want to play and get a broom in year one?" Severus asked. "It's not like it _hasn't _been done before. "Harry Potter had never flown on a broom and that can be confirmed because his Muggle family members were bastards who hated our world. He was famous shortly after he was born for something he couldn't remember doing. He was protected and hated by teachers and classmates alike. He was kind of strange," Severus informed them.

"But that was during a time when Slytherin was considered an evil house to be in and since it was the house Tom Riddle had been in, and his followers had been in," Larry quickly reminded him. "None of Harry's close friends could or would ever betray him and his best friends were all in the same house."

"How would you know?" Severus demanded.

"It's amazing the secrets Larry has learned by reading and having such an expansive memory, stupid rabbit," Kevin growled.

"Kevin, I'm hungry!" Marian broke the sudden silence just before his stomach growled.

Severus, Mathilda, and Larry all paled.

"Did you bother to eat the breakfast Jerry made you this morning?" Kevin growled.

"I was too excited, going back to school!" Marian seemed more like an eight-year-old than a twelve-year-old.

"How old is he, anyway?" the rude redhead demanded.

"Older than you, brat," Kevin glowered.

"Marian's had a strange life so far. He misses his foster father and doesn't realize what's going on half the time," Mathilda apologized.

"And Yuu-"

"Idiot rabbit, _don't _call me that!" Kevin was glaring at Larry.

"I don't remember it being this volatile last year!" Severus smiled.

"Be glad we aren't in a private room with more than enough room otherwise…" Mathilda trailed off as she saw Kevin getting ready to pull out his sword which only four people in the compartment even knew he had.

"Don't," Marian stopped him, steel in his voice. Then he smiled at the others, "Sometimes, Kevin forgets that Larry is only teasing him because he has an actual death wish to join his grandpa," he lied easily, causing his friends to look at him fear in their eyes, not that he noticed. His eyes were closed.

They all became quiet again as they waited for the food trolley, Kevin ready to cover Marian's mouth. He didn't need to. Marian remembered the year before and as he heard the trolley, he buried his face in Kevin's chest, falling asleep in the process. Nobody bought food this time, though. Secretly the others were glad. The eight first-years looked at each other guiltily. Their Order had sent them to discover the secrets at Hogwarts especially when a plant that had once only been associated with two very different exorcists arriving at the school had reached their ears.

"What is the deal? Could a person really fly on brooms?" the rude redhead demanded.

"Can a soul be chained to a weapon?" Larry countered.

Everyone looked at Larry like he had lost his mind.

"Voldemort managed to chain a piece of his soul to a snake," he shrugged. "I don't think it's that strange."

"Voldemort tried to enslave his own soul?" Mathilda asked.

"No, he tried to defeat something that can't be defeated - death," Larry grimaced.

Marian flinched, even as he continued to sleep.

"Do you know if he even slept last night?" Kevin demanded of Larry.

"He hid in his piano room the entire time. I swear if I'd known he'd play that song the _entire _night, I'd have knocked him out!" Larry defended himself.

"And would he have woken up in time for our departure if you'd done that, stupid rabbit?" Kevin whispered angrily.

The rest of the trip was spent in uneasy silence, until Marian began to stir.

"Are we there yet, Ka-"he rubbed his eyes and then corrected himself, "Kevin?"

"Not yet, Marian, but soon."

"Do you think we have to sit with Mr. Hat again?"

"I doubt it, Marian," Larry answered for Kevin. "Remember, the Sorting Hat is only for the first years."

"But Harry Potter ended up speaking with it lots of times. Even had a _sword _come out of it!"

"Great grandpa didn't have a choice," Severus told him gloomily. "He told my Grandpa that the Hat took his personal choice into account, but I've never heard of it doing that for anyone else, so I think he just was trying to make my grandpa feel better."

"Whoa, you're related to him?" Larry asked surprised.

"My name is Severus _Potter_, remember?"

"Well, Potter is as common a surname as Walker happens to be. How would we know?" Larry answered.

"Is Marian related to someone famous?" Severus asked.

"Not that we're aware of," Mathilda answered.

Marian was quiet and seemed to be trying to hide.

"Why does it even matter?" Kevin glared at Severus. "None of us are related to _any_one that is famous."

"Not even in an obscure culture?" asked one of the eight newcomers; he had brown hair and black eyes.

"Definitely _not_," Kevin glared at them.

"Then why do you and Mathilda look familiar?" asked the rude redhead.

"Because we are from Oriental descent and for some reason to you _idiots_ we look like other Orientals?" Kevin made a visible effort to not go off the deep end.

"Who are you and where are you from?" Mathilda asked.

"Does it really matter?" the redhead demanded.

"And I thought Kevin was the only self-centered, ill-mannered, quick-tempered samurai in the world!" Larry laughed.

"Larry, Neah says we have nothing on him when it comes to anger."

"Neah has several issues, Marian. Whereas Kevin has only you, anymore," Larry laughed as Kevin growled at the eye patch wearing second-year.

"Why would anyone think we were related to famous persons?" Marian asked innocently. He seemed unsure of what was going on.

"You guys seem very close to each other without being family and it's obvious your keeping secrets," the redhead was looking at Marian.

"We don't have any of your names," Larry stopped her before they could really go any further towards upsetting Kevin, "Yet you've picked up all of ours."

"Larry, just because they have their own secrets doesn't mean a damn thing about us being nice to them," Kevin growled.

The eight kids looked at him, but their conversation was cut short since they had arrived. The first years disappeared as Severus led his four friends to the carriages. When they got there, the four looked at each other just before Marian walked up to the front of the carriage.

"May I pet you, please?" he asked as Severus looked at him like he was crazy.

"What is he talking to?" Severus asked.

"Lucky you," Larry smiled as he watched Marian. "He's petting the thestrals. Can we just get into a carriage, please?"

"Marian, come on!" Kevin called. "We got to get into the castle to fill your empty stomach!"

"I'll ride one of these right up there," Marian laughed.

"You will do no such thing. Remember what Mana keeps telling you?" Mathilda said.

"How is riding a horse or carriage any different from walking?" Marian asked confused.

"Because right now we have to try _not _to get into trouble," Mathilda scolded.


	6. Second Year Banquet

In the banquet hall, Marian went to the Slytherin table while the others went to their respective house tables. They listened as the sorting began. The eight people that had shared the compartment with Marian and his friends looked from their line for those that they'd shared a compartment with. The group knew those four had secrets. Secrets that they were going to uncover.

At the tables, they noticed that Marian and Kevin were left pretty much alone, although both were being talked to occasionally. Severus and several other Gryffindors, while leaving a seat empty beside Kevin on each side of him and even across from him, still were talking with him, even arguing. It did not go unnoticed however that Kevin's eyes were glued to Marian. His weren't the only ones, though. Mathilda and Larry seemed to be watching Marian a bit too closely as well. It was like they were waiting for him to break down. What was Marian doing?

Marian had two seats on either side of him empty and each of the chairs across from him and each of those chairs. Others from his house had opted to share chairs if necessary. They had overheard the complaints that Allen was too nice for Slytherin. That he was strange for their kind and that if anyone tried to hurt him, they'd regret it. They didn't seem to fear his friends though. Larry and Mathilda were surrounded quickly.

Marian looked towards the hat that sat on the stool, waiting for its turn to speak. His left eye was closed. He remembered how other first years had been surprised at how much he cried. He felt this year was going to be worse. He wasn't sure why, but he was fairly certain that it had something to do with the elusive memories that the others and even Neah kept hinting at.

All four purposely tried to ignore the hat's song and for the most part succeeded, although there was a small part that managed to break through their closed ears.

_Secrets kept and secrets hid_

_From times before I was a kid_

_None can know but four_

_They'll find the hints in our lore_

That was all any of them really caught. Marian began laughing having been told what it probably meant, but he did try to keep his laughter to himself. He almost succeeded too. Almost. When he did begin to laugh aloud, his house professor took him aside even as the rest of the room fell silent. Then the professor called for Kevin.

Marian refused to speak without the ill-tempered Gryffindor there.

"Don't say it had something to do with Neah," Kevin growled at the child.

"But," he pouted.

"I don't care, bean sprout," Kevin growled. "Even if you deciphered those four lines, laughing while the hat was still talking was rude. I thought _you _of all people would never be rude."

"But, Neah says it's up to us!"

"And I'm the fucking Easter Bunny!" Kevin exclaimed angrily. Since they were literally outside the doors to the great hall, everybody inside the great hall heard Kevin yell. Larry and Mathilda excused themselves from their tables, and adoring fans, to go make sure Kevin and Marian weren't doing anything stupid.

When they exited the hall's doors, they saw Marian and Kevin glaring at each other.

"Both of you, shut up!" Linali ordered, without waiting for them to say anything. "Marion, no matter what you should ignore Neah when the Sorting Hat or teachers are speaking to you. Neah should not be telling you this stuff when there's a chance for you being in trouble. No," she put up a hand to stop his next words, "I don't care what he has to say. Besides if he knew, he could have waited until later to inform us. A more opportune place and time. Kevin, you know how loud your voice can be. Shame on you for causing us to come out here to settle matters. Professor, may we return? I'm fairly certain the food is about to be served," Linali just looked at the man.

"Return to your tables," he sighed. He'd never been so worn out before. "If you don't get enough to eat, you'll have to wait for breakfast."

"But, Professor," Marian looked at him with puppy eyes, "I didn't have breakfast and they wouldn't let me eat on the train because there wouldn't be enough left over for the other occupants. Please don't make me wait for breakfast!"

"Then get in there and eat," the professor told him gruffly.

When they reentered the hall, Marian went to his seat, the sorting having been completely finished, and began to pile his plate even as he ate.

"Wow, you sure eat a lot!" one of the first years that had been sorted into Slytherin commented.

"I skipped breakfast and then didn't eat on the train," Marian managed to get out as he continued to stuff his face.

"I remember you buried your head in Kevin's chest," the first year said, his green eyes twinkling.

"Umm, I was too excited to sleep last night. Since I know we don't have enough money to pay for stuff on the train, I decided it would be better to try to nap," he quietly answered the implied question.

"Well, my name is Scott Smith. I know, it's kind of strange. I wonder how such a sweet boy like you ended up in Slytherin?"

"I don't know," the lie was smooth, "I guess Mr. Hat decided I had some kind of ambition," he shrugged.

"I'm sorry about Leslie. She forgets that people sometimes don't always respond well to her attitude," Scott said.

"Oh, Ka-Kevin is worse. Usually, he doesn't even try to be polite. I'm surprised at his tremendous restraint. Who else were you with?"

"Well there's Leslie Adams," he pointed each of his companions out, "Damien Walters, Sarina Coulter, Andrew Bones, Harold Newcomb, Susan Andrews, and Alexia Tailor. We all grew up in the same general area."

The first two he'd pointed out had been sorted into Ravenclaw, the next two into Hufflepuff, then Gryffindor, and Alexia was in Slytherin with Scott. None of the group besides Scott looked happy about where they'd ended up.

"Why are they unhappy?" Marian asked.

"Cause they didn't want in the house they ended up in, of course, except Damien. He just doesn't want to be in the same house as Leslie. Nobody really likes Leslie. Leslie doesn't really even care either, but she is nicer to Damien than others. It makes loads of things harder. Can you tell me more about your friends?"

"Neah says I shouldn't try to become friends with you…Oops," Marian grinned sheepishly, "I wasn't supposed to tell you."

"That's okay. You know one day you have to make your own choices and decide your own friends," Scott grinned.

"Is that what you did?"

"I'm a very likable person, but no. I just kind of got thrown into the group after I moved to the area they make their home. I've traveled a lot but now I get to have some kind of stability. Don't get me wrong, I like traveling, but a kid needs some kind of stability."

"It sounds so familiar. Mana and I traveled around a lot. Then I guess he aband¾I mean he had to do things I couldn't be with him for, so he left me with people he trusts. Kevin, Mathilda, and Larry are constantly helping me out. They're like best friends and they just accepted me."

"That's awesome! I wish my comrades would do the same. They think something's wrong with me, I think. I don't know. They haven't been real friendly with me since we met. I think they don't trust me," Scott sighed.

"I don't know. You seem nice, but Neah says I gotta be careful," Allen looked down at his empty plate. "I guess it's time for bed."

They quickly followed their prefects to the dorms to get the password and go to bed. About midnight, Scott noticed Marian leave. He waited a few moments before following. What he saw amused him. Marian met up with his friends. They quietly walked around until a door opened. Somehow Scott managed to follow them into Hogwarts' Room of Requirement. Once inside with them, Scott managed to hide in the almost bare room. He saw Kevin with a sword at his waist, Larry with a hammer and Mathilda wearing ruby red anklets.

"I'm surprised they didn't try to take these away from us again," Larry grinned.

"They aren't taking Mugen, stupid rabbit," Kevin glared.

"I doubt they can't take these off. They fused with my blood, remember? Even after drinking that concoction they didn't revert." Mathilda asked.

"Why can't we be friends with them?" Marian asked. "Scott seemed nice, and he's like us."

"Of course, Marian. They are _all _like us and that's the problem. They _know _our hidden history," Mathilda gently explained.

"But Scott seems so lonely!" Marian tried to argue.

"And Leslie seems like their version of _our _Yuu!" Larry laughed, remembering her attitude.

"Call me that again, stupid rabbit!" Kevin had drawn his sword and pressed it against Larry's throat.

"Quit it right now!" Marian demanded. "Just because I can't remember everything we apparently know because Neah is hiding it from me, it doesn't mean I can't beat both of you at something. Neah let me retain how to play poker!" he claimed triumphantly.

"It's not right that you never lose! I refuse to play that game with you ever! Even Tyki refused to play with you after you took him for everything on that train ride!"

"I don't remember playing a Tyki, but I'd love to prove just how well I can play!" Allen's grin was slightly sinister.

"Oh, please," Kevin glared, "You're a useless, cursed bean sprout."

"That's not my name!"

"Do you even remember what it is, bean sprout," Kevin taunted.

"Allen!" Marian yelled after a few seconds.

"Why'd it take so long?" Kevin growled. "Did you really forget, because if so I swear upon Mugen that I will find a way to free you of that bastard!"

"I wasn't sure if I should tell you Allen or Marian," Marian sniffled a little.

"It's not like anyone else can get in here when we're here," Larry laughed even as he tossed his hammer in his hand.

"But you guys said I should never use our names even in private just in case!"

"That's true," Mathilda smiled. "And while I'm glad you remembered, we really should report in."

"I want to discuss at least becoming friends with Scott. I don't think he's as bad you seem to think," Marian pouted. His pout made Scott want to give in to him, and he'd never admit it, but he was a selfish kid.

"Why don't we talk with Komui, first. After that we can discuss it. Let him research those eight kids. I don't suppose either of you got their names?"

"We left before Larry could learn any except Leslie Adams and Susan Andrews, ," Mathilda sighed in annoyance just remembering why they'd left.

"There's also Damien Walters, Sarina Coulter, Andrew Bones, Harold Newcomb, Scott Smith, and Alexia Tailor," Marian smiled proud that he could actually contribute something.

"I thought electronics couldn't work on the school's grounds?" Larry asked as Marian pulled out a little gold ball with wings and a cross.

"But Cross wasn't just one our Generals, remember?" Mathilda reminded him. "He was also a sorcerer, at least that's what that one akuma said."

Scott was surprised at what Mathilda had said. Nobody outside the small group he had been forced to join knew about akuma and when he had taken to trying to find out more in the Order's library, he'd come across a General Marian Cross, the one she must have been talking about, but he had disappeared over a century ago.

"Let's not talk about him. I don't care if Marian can't remember, when he does," Mathilda shuddered, "let's just drop that subject."

"Tch, whatever," Kevin turned his head to Marian. "Got him set up? I want to actually go to sleep at some point."

"Yes, I know Kevin," a voice spoke through the golden flying ball, I hope you guys are secure?"

"As secure as last year," Marian spoke after a quick glance around the room, a smile on his face.

Scott had a feeling that Marian knew he was there.

"Good. We found out that there are some exorcists joining Hogwarts this year," Komui started.

"Eight, brother. Eight modern-day exorcists who probably have information on the past," Mathilda informed him.

"Well, there's only one that I would suggest bringing into our confidence,"

"Who is it and why?" Kevin demanded.

"Well, it seems he was just abandoned at the current Order's Headquarters, so the others with him don't like him."

"His Innocence?"

"Unknown, but it's thought to be something that would be helpful to us in keeping our secrets especially since there are no Generals _thought _to be in existence yet."

"I'm sorry," Marian said softly, "but Neah refuses to let me have those memories," he shrugged as though it was no big deal.

"Well, if you find out anything more about the other seven, let me know. We only got one name, and it's the one that if even one of you feels we should accept, even Marian, then we should."

"Are you going to keep us in suspense?" Mathilda asked glaring at the flying ball.

"Are you okay? You haven't been going on any dates have you? Nobody's been getting close to my little sister have they?" the voice that was speaking suddenly started squawking.

"We know all eight members names and if you don't tell me the name of the one we can try to trust, then _if _we go home for the holidays, I _will _carve you into pieces that will be too small for anyone to find," Kevin threatened.

"Fine, fine, but is my Lenalee safe?" he demanded.

Kevin growled.

"I'll take that as a yes because if anyone harms my precious Lenalee, then I'd have to come out there and hunt them down just for hurting my precious little sister!"

"Komui," Kevin growled, glaring at the flying thing.

"Okay, but his name is so _plain_. It's Scott. We have no surname. I think they randomly chose one for him. Apparently he was found abandoned and the surname was given to him by the current head nurse who said that not having a last name is unfortunate so he could have hers. He's a born Brit, just like Marian. Sadly his story parallels Marian's in many ways. But they no longer have Hevlaska, so they don't know his synchro rate or any prophecy for him. We cannot say that he's a modern Destroyer of Time."

"Hey Scott, come on out!" Marian grinned. "I knew we could trust you, even Neah says it's okay, now!"

Marian's three friends looked at him surprised. Fear was on all three of their faces.

"It's also obvious that they did something similar as you guys, because Scott is known to be a minimum of thirteen years old."

"Aah, but Komui, it's not like we don't keep up with ours," Larry whined.

"But I don't know what theirs is like and Scott may be unwilling to tell us his secrets, so be careful," Komui said as he turned off his end.

Scott came out of hiding after the flying creature turned off and landed in Marian's hand.

"Is this what you meant, Marian?" Scott asked, softly.

"Dammit, bean sprout!" Kanda glared at the boy.

"My name is Allen, BaKanda!"

"Oh, did you think it up yourself, remember it on your own, or did that provoking stupid Noah tell you!"

"He's not stupid or provoking, only you are!" Marian cried.

"Wow, are they always like this?" Scott asked.

"Aah, that's just them showing that they care for each other. Besides, it's always been this way. Ever since they met each other, from what I understand," Larry laughed.

"So who are you four _really_?" Scott asked.

"A blast from the past," Larry managed with a straight face before he broke down laughing, "Man, I've been wanting to use that line for a while now!"

"Larry, really, I know what Komui said, but do you think we should tell him all of that?"

"Can Allen ever be as unforgiving as Kanda?" Larry countered as he looked at the two glaring at each other.

"Okay, but he's in Allen's house. And Allen _is _technically our superior, even if he doesn't yet remember it."

"Do you want to break up their death glare match? I thought it would wait until after he showed the signs of his curse again," Larry said.

"I guess Allen's always been a bit touchy about that nickname from Kanda. He just wants to be accepted, haven't you noticed," Mathilda reminded Larry.

"Yuu-"

"Don't call me that!" Kevin's sword was at Larry's throat again.

"Kevin we really need to explain things so we can get back to bed before the professors find out we're missing. They are serious about punishing students caught in the corridors."

"Except the stupid bean sprout," Kevin growled.

"How many times-" Marian started only to be stopped by Mathilda's glare. "Fine, but he's still too stupid to remember my name!"

"Now Scott, we'd tell you everything, but Marian doesn't remember it all, so we won't," Mathilda said.

"We are from the past," Marian said, "at least that's what everyone keeps telling me. Neah says all you need to know right now is that we are exorcists of a different time who are using false names to help keep our secrets."

"That doesn't begin to cover everything," Kevin remarked, "Just so you know, Scott," Kevin spat the name out, "I don't care who the hell you are. If you threaten the bean sprout's life, you threaten my life, and when my life is threatened, the threat is destroyed in whatever way I must, no matter who or what the hell it is."

"But I never met you before last summer!" Marian protested.

"It doesn't matter stupid bean sprout!" Kevin snarled.

"He really _is _worse than Leslie!" Scott managed to say.

"That's stupid Kanda for you," Marian muttered, angrily.

"Bean sprout, don't even start that. Don't forget your medicine and keep your arm hidden!" Kevin glared.

"It's _been _hidden BaKanda!"

"Then why the hell are you fucking tugging at your fucking glove?" Kevin smirked.

"Because I want to keep it hidden!" Marian had turned red.

"Can I get your real names?" Scott finally decided to ask.

"You can't use them in front of the others," Marian pouted. "If you do it'll create problems."

"I doubt I'll have a problem remembering to use the names we managed to pick up as yours when we were on the train," Scott answered.

Marian informed Scott of their real names, and Scott just looked at them like they were the biggest liars in the universe.

"How can you guys all be around each other so easily!" He finally exploded. "I mean after the big battle, the bookman and his apprentice switched sides, Kanda was presumed dead wherever Allen sent him and the dead Alma through the ark and Allen, aka the Fourteenth Noah, was presumed a traitor and had gone missing.

"Take that back," Kanda had his sword pointed at the boy, Lavi had made his hammer grow to be about their size and Lenalee was glaring at him. What got to Scott, however, was that it was Allen who had spoken. "Allen never turned traitor. He may not have been an ideal exorcist to the idiots in Central who only wanted to win a war they couldn't win, but Allen only wanted to save every soul he could. Even that of us Noah.

"We don't have the luxury of living as nicely as possible, and as you'll learn soon enough, _if _you keep going to this school, Allen is as selfless as I am selfish. He's more selfless than any I have ever met and if you ever say any other nonsense on the lines of Allen being a traitor to anyone, think on this. The Vatican approved torture to try to get information that he had no clue about. They approved using akuma as a part of their fighting force, a third exorcist with the only surviving second exorcist standing before you. They allowed experiments to try to force Innocence into possible matches with no regards for the people involved or their families.

"To keep from causing more akuma, Exorcists really weren't allowed to keep in contact with their families. They couldn't unless they were in the Order as well. Innocence accommodators might well have been prisoners for all the Vatican could care. As long as they could destroy akuma, put them to use whether they might need a little more time to heal or not. They didn't care about the individuals or what they needed other than to fight the akuma. If there was a possibility that someone might be able to accommodate an Innocence, Leverrier did everything possible to use them. Why do you think Lenalee wears those anklets?

"The Bookman are historians constantly changing sides and usually only appearing to aid that side when and only when something unusual occurs. They are to watch and record, nothing more nothing less. To involve emotions is something a Bookman is not allowed. They are supposed to be heartless. As for Lenalee, I'm surprised she managed to stick around after being forced away from her brother at age five. Kanda and Alma were best friends that were experiments. The only reason Kanda continued life was to take out his best friend. That's all. He barely survived to do so. As for Allen, being forced to house my memories does not a traitor make. Would you say you were a traitor if you were forced to sleep with your enemy? Are you a traitor because you want to be our friend?"

The group calmed down and looked Allen.

"Allen's going to be pissed when he remembers, Neah."

"He can't know yet, Kanda. Not until when he first activated his arm and even then it'll be a while before he returns to the same form as when you guys knew him, so he'll have all the memories, but be unable to use it properly."

"You said too much, Neah," Lavi glared at him.

"No, I said what needed to be said. Doing one's job doesn't make one a traitor, and Allen wants this friendship. He wants a friend in that house that he can talk with. That's why he kept Scott's presence a secret."

The three just glared at him, while Scott looked surprised.

"This is why we can't keep secrets from each other, Neah!" Lenalee exclaimed.

"Calm down, Lenalee. Scott is the only one in that group that Allen even likes. Who are we to deny him some happiness? It's not like he's _never _gonna remember the bad times."

"What do you mean?" Scott asked curious.

"Just watch, keep our secrets, and eventually all will be revealed."

"Look, you said last year there were problems here," Kevin glared at Allen, "but we have yet to encounter any!"

"This year everything will change," Neah sighed.

"What do you mean, Noah?" Kanda growled.

"There's a reason we were sent," Scott spoke up. "Besides a plant that was last even _heard_ of was during ya'll's time, we had reports that our finders haven't been able to get into this _particular_ area for centuries."

"I'm gonna kill Komui," Kanda growled menacingly towards Lenalee.

"You will leave my brother alone and we are going back to bed. Allen, be careful, okay?"

Allen just smiled as he happily went with Scott to go back to bed. Along the way, he made Scott promise not to use that room with his Order comrades. Scott readily agreed that the other seven in his group could find their own way to manage things.


	7. First Confrontation

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

It was a few weeks later before Leslie confronted Scott, while he was hanging out with Marian, Mathilda, Kevin, and Larry.

"I thought we agreed that we'd not indulge in making friends with _unknowns_," she scathingly glared at the boy.

"But they aren't unknowns for me, Leslie. They accepted me as friends when you couldn't even accept me as a neighbor," he grinned at the temperamental redhead.

"Why do I have a strange feeling of déjà vu?" Marian murmured as he laid his head on Kevin's lap.

"Because it's like how Kevin and Larry used to behave, and you and Kevin," Mathilda laughed lightly.

"But I don't remember figh-oh right," Marian sighed. "Neah says if you're going to shed blood you're better off going to the chamber where the ink of a diary has already been spilled," Marian said as Severus walked up.

"How does Neah know about that?" Severus asked surprised.

"Because Neah opened it last Christmas for me," Marian answered, sighing.

"Neah can speak _Parseltongue_?" Severus practically yelled in shock bringing out the Herbology teacher.

"Severus, I really thought you knew better than to yell discoveries like that," the teacher scolded him, "Didn't Hermione teach you better when she told you about the Voldemort War?"

"Yes, Professor Longbottom," Severus was suitably chastised and Professor Longbottom turned his attention to the boy who always wore gloves.

"I'm sorry about Severus. He tends to get a little overexcited after he learned just a little about his family. He still hasn't learned about the Hallows."

"I'm guessing his great-however-many grandfather still has the cloak?" Larry asked excitedly.

They seemed to have forgotten about Leslie and her six friends, not that she was going to let them.

"The Hallows are a stupid myth!" she exclaimed.

"So is magic, young lady," Professor Longbottom seemed to chuckle.

"So is the existence of so much, Leslie," Larry tacked on, then turned back to the professor, "I've been meaning to ask you, how did you survive barely managing to be a footnote in that war? I mean you and Harry had the same birthday, your parents were tortured into insanity and you were one of Harry's friends. In fact, you were the friend that stood silently by his side to do the things he and Ron and Hermione seemed unable to do, like killing the snake, Nagini, and leading the resistance while they were hunting Horcruxes."

"You seem well-versed in this for how poorly I've heard you pay attention in class," Larry raised an eyebrow.

"That's because the stupid rabbit has a thirst for knowledge that defeats even Noah's sadism," Kevin angrily answered the unspoken question.

"Kevin, why would you say something like that?" Larry whined. "It's not my fault that Panda has a mean kick!"

"I think you two have forgotten that they don't know who Noah is," Mathilda managed to scold them.

"Oh, come on, Mathilda! It's not like he's gonna kill me here where they might actually manage to convince him to part with his precious Mugen!"

"Are you trying to imply something, stupid rabbit?" Kanda demanded, his hand reaching into his robes.

"We want Larry in one piece when we go back, Kevin," Marian's voice sounded more mature to the professor. Leslie and her six friends seemed surprised, while Scott and Mathilda grinned and both Kevin and Larry looked shamed. "Stop provoking him, _Larry_. It could actually equal your death one of these days. I can't constantly be here to stop it. Komui's _not_ here, and while I don't care if either of you actually dies, Allen does which means I must. Stop being so bloody stupid!"

Marian went to walk off, but was blocked by seven first years who wanted to know exactly what was going on.

"Marian, come on," Scott called, "I wanted your help with my potions assignment!"

"Scott Percival Smith, I'm not done with you!" Leslie actually stopped the five from leaving. "Why are you hanging out with these…these _unknowns_," she managed to hiss.

"Because we're fr-friends," Marian managed to stutter out.

"Friends with a shortstack who never reveals his hands?" Leslie grinned maniacally. "Who could ever be friends with a _weakling _like you?" she demanded cruelly.

"You bitch," Kevin growled his sword out, from where, none watching could be certain. It didn't hurt that Larry had suddenly been sporting a seven-foot tall hammer, and all four (yes, Scott, Mathilda, Larry, _and _Kevin) were standing protectively around the small boy. They acted as though a herd of elephants, protecting their young. Scott had used his Innocence to shield them from outsiders the moment Professor Longbottom had left them so as not to cast suspicion on their volatile group.

"Let me kill her, Kevin," Mathilda growled angrily. "She gives us a bad name. I don't think we should even let the wolves taste her bile as it would kill them,"

"Oh come on, Leslie's not _that _bad," one of the others said.

"She just called a person that she has _no _knowledge of a weakling. The only ones who reserve the right to call Marian anything close to it is us, isn't that right, bean sprout?" Kevin glared at the brown hair, black-eyed boy who had said they looked familiar.

"Shut it, Damien," Scott was glaring angrily at the boy. "Just because you like her doesn't mean she's let anyone _else _close enough to even speak civilly. She's almost as bad as Yuu Kanda."

Kevin growled and turned towards the boy only marginally.

"I'm just saying. That guy was said to have had a stick up his ass and wouldn't be friends with anyone. He'd destroy his supervisor's creations just for crossing his path. He had the entire place scared that they would be the next to be impaled on his sword. But there were allegedly bets on which of two others would be the first human to die by his blade¾Allen Walker or Lavi Bookman, Jr," Scott shrugged, grinning as he informed his friends what the records said about them.

Larry began to laugh and kept going until he was rolling on the ground.

"What the hell is with you, you stupid rabbit?" Kanda turned his full-blown "I'm-totally-going-to-kill-your-ass-and-slice-it-into-pieces-that-can-be-fed-to-the-fishes-where-nobody-can-find-you" glare on the laughing idiot, whose hammer had shrunk even though he still gripped it.

"That Yuu is a total prick," he managed to gasp through his tears, "just like Kevin!"

Marian was still curled up in a ball on the grass.

"Stupid Moyashi," Kanda glared at the boy. "Are you seriously gonna let them get away with calling you weak? What would Mana say?"

"Kevin, stop it! Marian's already in a fragile state, and you can't do anything while the culprits are still here!"

"Then why don't I slice each and every one of the idiots that follows the bitch that called Moyashi a weakling shortstack who would never have friends?" He shot a death glare at Leslie who actually stepped back.

"Because she has to sign off on all of our reports to headquarters," Scott sighed sadly. "I'd love to let you run rampant and even help you to destroy these idiots, but if they don't report regularly, there'll be more than just us and then what would you do?"

"Kill them for sending such an aggravating and insulting bitch. You know what, I haven't killed anything since summer, and I think my blade may be in need of sharpening again."

"We could always test it on the bitch who thinks we are insignificant," Mathilda spoke a very familiar evil grin on her face to Kevin and Larry, but not the others who were looking at her. Marian was still huddled on the ground.

"I can't believe it!" Larry exclaimed as he straightened up. "She has a complex over the bean sprout!"

"Larry, shut up, I'm not going to kill you today if you do."

"I can't let you kill the others, guys," Scott looked seriously torn. "I mean I know he's no weakling and I know that he could wipe the floor with us, but they don't and you didn't want them knowing did you?"

"No, we didn't, thank you, Scott," Marian had finally stood up. "Put away all of your stupid over-protectiveness. It's not going to be much longer and he'll be back just the way you idiots remember him."

"Really? Then why the hell are you out, again?" Kevin demanded, not sheathing his sword.

"Because he's sleeping, again. All that crying has always worn him out and then he's going to be starved. Now put those away before you get found out and have them forcibly taken away!"

He didn't speak again until Larry and Kevin had put the weapons away. By then Scott was sweating.

"Thank you, Scott. I know it's asking a lot of you to do this, but keep it going just a little longer, please?" Scott nodded, but didn't say a word. "Severus, I'm going to have to ask you to keep Larry's hammer and Kevin's sword a secret, please. The headmistress knows about them, but not that they are able to actually cause damage. Kevin's was a gift from his dead older brother and Larry's was a gift from his grandpa. I don't know anything other than that, so I doubt they want to explain any more than that.

"Also, I'm sure you understand the importance of keeping my existence a secret. Marian would have another fit if he knew I'd taken over in front of you. Not much longer, but soon he'll get his memories of meeting these three back. I don't know how Larry makes his hammer alter sizes nor do I know how Kevin manages to keep his sword on hand. I am sorry you got drawn into this. If you want I _could _erase your memory of this entire conversation, but somehow I doubt you want that. From what I've seen, you're too much like what we've learned about your ancestors."

Severus gulped as he looked at the boy whose words had caused everyone to be quiet. They had forgotten about Severus. Kevin had moved his glare to Leslie and kept it there.

"I guess I can keep this all a secret from everyone," Severus mumbled.

"There is no 'guessing,' Severus. In this case, I need to know you'll keep this secret as closely guarded as your nighttime escapades. I know you already managed to recreate that map that helped your ancestor out so long ago, that another of your ancestors had helped create. Larry has the ability to create it once again on his own….a version even better than the original. I can't explain how. Just know that with Larry's brain, even Hermione would be envious. How can we convince you without revealing what we know?" Marian mused.

"I live in the same house as the idiot, bean sprout," Kevin managed through gritted teeth.

"But we have to resolve this now and Scott's almost at his end, though he's done better than usual, you know," Marian stated. "He's going to be too drained for us to worry about anything else."

"It was his choice, idiot," Kevin's glare never moved from Leslie.

"Severus, I really didn't want to tell you this, but I know about you trying to follow us and I know you didn't really want to leave us alone over the summer. Your owls never could find us, you understand. That map is unable to show where we are on it, either."

"I know, but I don't know why. I thought maybe you guys were descendants of people who had been in a famous war and were trying to hide," Severus seemed down.

"In a way, but you must never show these seven that map. It's not good for them at all. Besides who knows what their reactions would be. They can _never_ see that map when it's activated. _Ever._"

"After last year, I left it at home. I think my mum was happy about that."

"Good," Kevin snarled, "We already got one addition whose coming with us this summer, we don't need another."

"I think Scott wanted to tell them, and, Severus, can you keep all of this a secret like you did what you learned last year?"

"I can," Severus said full of conviction.

"Welcome to our group. You'll need to get permission to come with us at the end of the summer. Scott, thank you. Deactivate."

Scott slumped to the ground. He didn't speak as Mathilda moved to his side.

"I think you managed an extra twenty seconds, Scott," Larry commented.

Scott smiled weakly, "I could have lasted longer if I had merely concealed the weapons, but I was shielding all thirteen of us."

"Fourteen," Marian corrected pointed at his head, where a snitch-like thing sat.

"I didn't think I'd used it _that _much," Scott sighed even as he lay his head on Mathilda's lap.

"Don't worry too much," Larry laughed. "Marian can't do anything right now except keep Kevin from killing Leslie. He really needs to get that stick removed."

Scott laughed weakly, "I thought he'd kill _me_!"

"If Marian didn't trust you as much as he does, I would," Kevin growled. "I'm not some stupid _idealistic _bean sprout."

"Kevin, just because he's sleeping doesn't mean he's not going to hear about this later," Marian glared at him.

"As if I care what happens to the cursed idiot!" Kevin growled.

"You should," Mathilda looked at him as she helped Scott back up. "He's only not on the Slytherin Quidditch team because you'd turn it into a killing spree."

"Why should the idiot even care?" Kevin demanded as the seven exorcists who didn't know who they were continued to watch.

"Because he's more your friend than any of us!" Mathilda cried. "He's the one who helped you and your _brother_, remember!"

"It doesn't mean I owe the idiot. His own guilt was eating him alive. Guilt that he didn't need to feel," Kevin finally looked away from Leslie. "Besides if he was really my friend, why the hell would he come back to us?"

"He wanted to pay his respects. He _is _an idiot," Marian spoke, "but he actually does care for you. It's his stupid self-sacrificing ways that'll get us killed and leave the rest of you to nature's mercy because God sure as hell won't go easy on any of you. He doesn't understand the concept of hate though he has more reason than even Noah. _I_ can't even claim as much wrong-doing upon a person as he can. Scott's the closest as we already know. If it weren't for you three I doubt I'd have had as many problems as I've had with the idiot."

"Him saving the rest of us isn't a problem!" Mathilda angrily told him.

Marian raised his brows. Larry started laughing as Scott began to lean against the girl. Severus just looked at the group like they were amazingly stupid. The seven others who had traveled with Scott just gaped at the group still trying to figure out what they had meant about Scott going with them.

Eventually, Leslie demanded what they had meant.

"If you guys wouldn't leave as soon as I walk in a room I might have told you, but Mathilda's older brother extended an invite for me to spend time with them over the summer."

"As long as you leave Mathilda alone," Larry sighed. "The last time some guy tried to spend time with her, her brother sent another robot after him and all they were doing was shopping for a gift for the guy's son and her brother. I still can't believe how he kept us from destroying them and then they were attacked by that ak¾rabid creature."

"He gave Marian an octopus hat!" Mathilda giggled.

"Marian saved you and then _you _knocked your brother _and _his robot into the river," Larry was laughing again.

"I swear not to bring upon myself the wrath of Mathilda's brother," Severus grimaced. "I guess I'd better go send an owl to my mum and dad."

"The sooner you get permission the sooner we can warn Komui," Mathilda sighed.

"If his fucking creation tries to take my soba away again, I will kill the damn thing."

"But you'd let Marian become it's victim?" Mathilda raised a brow while looking sternly at him.

"It's his own fault, the stupid bean sprout," Kanda's expression seemed almost implacable. "Besides haven't you been a victim of your brother's inventions?"

"Aah, but he means well by it, _most _of the time," Mathilda smiled as Scott straightened back up and the snitch that had been on Marian's head disappeared.

"He's going to want to join the Quidditch team when he remembers everything, isn't he?" Scott asked quietly.

"Most likely. He and Kevin have a seriously volatile relationship. Only two people ever dared come between them and there was one person that if ever present caused him not to even be volatile. Thankfully, Kevin was rarely around when _he'd_ be around. And now the bastard's gotten himself killed," Marian grinned. "But now Severus would you mind leaving us to discuss some things with Scott's traveling companions?"

Severus looked at them, but accepted and disappeared. They waited until after he was out of ear- and eye-sight.

"I'm not going back to where I'm not welcome," Scott said, causing Kevin to chuckle, surprising everyone.

"He's worse than I thought," Kevin quickly schooled his features back to a glare. "He's as bad as the stupid bean sprout with his stupid ideals."

"The _bean sprout's_ ideals are what saved your sorry ass when you almost died in Japan, BaKevin," Marian reminded him.

"I was _fine_," Kevin glared at the boy.

"You were dead until I convinced the stupid boy that he could save you, you idiot."

"I'm not the idiot who _has _to rely on a stupid bean sprout!"

"He was _chosen_ to be relied upon by both God and Noah alike. Only he could have done what was needed and because of you _idiots_ he has had a crisis of his faith to do as Mana told him so long ago. That doesn't help _any _of us. And I thought we had more alike than not."

"You're the idiot in choosing a boy who'd rather sacrifice himself than listen to reason."

"That's why he was chosen. His love for anything else no matter how bitter, his pity for those suffering souls, and his incredible lack of self-preservation when another creature's life is on the line. It causes him to be chosen by both sides in a war that can probably never end."

"Yeah, I know," Larry sighed, "but do you have to be so cold-hearted? I mean you're the one who put him in this mess to begin with. If it weren't for you and that damn prophesy, then I doubt he'd be anything more than a pitiful performer whom we can't help but like."

"It's because he was chosen that he's the Clown, Larry. His history makes him perfect to cheer up others even while they ridicule him. He can't help himself. He'll keep walking until he's finally allowed death at the hands of time itself."

"Like we needed you to tell us this shit?" Kevin growled at the boy. "We've got other matters to attend like Scott having not informed the rest of his group about his turning traitor in _their _eyes."

"So reminiscent, isn't it?" Marian had a wicked gleam as Larry looked ashamed.

"You're the biggest traitor of all, Neah!" Mathilda whispered harshly, just loud enough for the group to hear but not any who might wander a little too close them.

Most of the student body hated Leslie and her friends, but they were even more scared of Kevin, Marian, Larry, and Mathilda. The four just had an aura about them that said 'piss me off and you'll be so fucking dead that no matter what you do or anyone else for that matter, you'll never be found again.' They had learned the first day of classes the previous year that saying anything against Marian would undoubtedly equal one's death.

It was proven when a huge bully had one night suddenly disappeared from Ravenclaw and his cronies in each of the other houses also disappeared. No trace of any of them had ever been found. Teachers were even afraid of the foursome, except those who had participated in the Voldemort War. It had been rumored that Harry Potter and Ronald and Hermione Weasley would be asked to come and teach until the four graduated. It wasn't very surprising that most of the student body actually avoided the group when it was the two they and teachers feared the most.

"There are always more than two sides to every war, Mathilda. Why would that change? Besides the only one out of this group who could see the thestrals is most likely Scott. He _did _watch as a town was brutally destroyed, the people who had taken him in tortured to death, remember? That was done by humans. Then he agreed to fight in a war that would let him save humans at the cost of what? Being hated by any who saw him? It wasn't really a fair exchange, was it, Scott? But now you'll have people who appreciate you and what you do. So many people…" he trailed off grinning evilly.

"Of course we appreciate Scott!" Leslie angrily glared at Marian. The other six quickly agreed.

"Then why did you leave him out of your meetings?" Mathilda demanded. "Why didn't you notice him sneaking out at night? Why do you only now try to berate him? Why now when there's no obvious escape?"

"We weren't going to-" Leslie was cut off by Kevin's growl.

"I might let the bean sprout lie to us about things, but I will never let someone who doesn't know the true hardships of war lie so badly to our faces or did you forget that we're _unknowns_?"

"You're too young to have seen war," Leslie dismissed his words quickly.

"That's not what they said when I was chained to a bed at age five," Mathilda glared at her.

"Nor when Kevin was forced to kill his best friend," Lavi solemnly agreed.

"And it sure in hell ain't what they said when the bean sprout was forced to kill for _his_ _own_ safety. War doesn't care about the people involved nor does it worry about age. Why else would people try to _convince_ themselves that it's _okay_ to kill, and the stupid bean sprout still has fucking nightmares when he's allowed full _fucking_ knowledge!"

"There is no war going on currently that would force any of you _unknowns_ to fight."

"And we _would _like to keep it that way for as_ long _as possible, Leslie, but you are making it harder and harder and the little idiot is about to wake up which means we need to get to the great hall fast or who knows what he may find to eat."

So Kevin, Mathilda, Larry, Scott, and Marian rushed as quickly as they could to the great hall, making it there just as Marian 'woke' up.

"Kevin, I'm hungry," he pouted.

"You're in luck, Marian. We're in the great hall," Larry laughed.

"So can I eat my fill?"

"Of course, bean sprout."

"I can't wait! Ooh, I hope there's lots and lots of food!"

"It's the stupid great hall, idiot bean sprout."

"But Mana said I should try to never be a burden to anyone and that our job as entertainers is to bring joy to them."

"So your over-enthusiasm is to bring us joy?"

"N-no," Marian moved away from Kevin slightly.

Kevin sighed as he just looked away from the other boy.


	8. Nearing the Holidays

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Everything was easy-going. Maybe not _easy _easy-going, but it wasn't like they were at each others throats, either. Nothing significant occurred until one fall night when suddenly Marian was heard yelling in his sleep about Mana. It wasn't just the Slytherin tower that heard him, it was the entire castle. Larry, Mathilda, and Kevin didn't care as they rushed to the Slytherin portrait and demanded to be allowed entry as Scott tried to wake the boy up. The others in the room watched in fear as Marian's left arm changed and seemed to move on its own. Then they started to fear as they saw his left eye covered in blood.

One of the Slytherin's went to retrieve both the headmistress and nurse, ignoring the three that were yelling at their portrait. Larry, Mathilda, and Kevin quickly entered the Slytherin common room, asking or rather demanding Marian's location. When they reached him, he was slumped over in his bed as though leaning against a gravestone or tree.

"Marian, come on snap out of it, wake up!" Kevin shook him.

"Do you think this is the night that he?" Mathilda asked concerned.

"Why else would his eye be bleeding and his hair is turning white," Larry spoke.

"Damn it, Walker, wake your ass up before the nurse gets here!"

Kevin continued to shake the boy and when he finally woke up, he mumbled, "Why did you guys come after me? Why do you guys keep trying to protect me? Why did all of this happen?"

"Sometimes it's better not to know," Kevin sighed as Scott and Kevin helped him stand.

"I suppose you're right, Kevin," Marian's voice seemed to take on a new maturity. One none of them had thought the boy had been possessed except those who knew who he _really_ was. "Things are going to be hard for me for a while, but I know we have nothing to lose. Not anymore."

To Alexia, it looked like he'd grown up by several years in one night.

"Now, Beansprout, what was your nightmare about?"

"The years I had forgotten," Marian sighed, ignoring the nickname and blood flowing down his face. It stopped fairly quickly. "Do I really need to remind you? I'm going to be in pain and flinching every once in a while until the day of that," he glared at his left arm. "We'll need to inform Komui. I think he can create an artificial one to tide it over until I regain it. It only took…I don't remember how long. Oh and don't worry about Neah anymore. It's truly me and he's pretty upset by it. Hey, Scott, what do you say about helping me change the sheets? Nothing more traumatic than waking up to the smell of your own blood," he laughed, scaring their audience.

"Marian, are you okay?" the headmistress demanded. "Some of your dorm mates are saying you were thrashing and bleeding?"

"Oh, I'll be fine, Headmistress Juniper. I was having a _very _vivid nightmare. If I may please return to sleep?"

The few weeks after that were fairly uneventful except for the arguments between Kevin and Marian with the occasional threat towards Larry. Occasionally Mathilda would get in a few threats while Severus and Scott would laugh. The other major group really just glared at them as it seemed that Scott was preferring people who might risk getting too attached to him. The seven first years were worried. To them Scott was drifting away from their war and with them knowing there were enemies they couldn't defend against, they were terrified.

As the holidays grew closer, Marian slowly became more withdrawn. Even Larry, Kanda, and Mathilda were starting to get worried. None of them could really remember how he'd reacted as Christmas rolled around because they'd never really had any time to relax. It was obvious that everyone was getting ready to spend time with family and friends. When Severus asked them if any of them would be seeing any of their families for the holidays, they all looked at him surprised.

"Of course we won't be!" Kevin angrily burst out at his friend. "We didn't last year! What the _hell _makes you think we would this year?"

"Kevin, please," Mathilda tried to calm the volatile man down.

"Yeah, Yu, we don't want you destroying the Great Hall, do we?" Larry laughed at his friend. "Now, now," Larry tried to pacify the swordsman as he moved to brandish his sword, "There are so many witnesses…It really wouldn't be fair to Scott."

"Come on, guys," Marian sighed. "I think we need to focus on what we heard the hat say. He wouldn't have mixed a message like that in its song for us unless he meant for us to hunt it down. Since the killer is probably still searching for me, I'll have to do it quickly."

"Why do you have to do anything?" Mathilda demanded heatedly not noticing when the seven modern exorcists entered the Great Hall, determined to speak with Scott. "Why can't you let us help you? This is just like when we first met and when you went to Asia! Aren't we friends?"

"It's not the same as back then!" Marian exclaimed. "_We're _not the same!" He then stormed out of the room oblivious to everyone's stares and the tension.

Larry and Kevin both looked shocked, while Mathilda started to cry. Severus and Scott were both surprised while the seven other first year exorcists walked to the table determinedly.

"Scott, you need to return with us," Leslie told him.

"Scott doesn't need to leave if he doesn't want to," Kevin glared at her.

"You guys have too many secrets for us to _let_ Scott spend any more time being _corrupted_ by you," Leslie answered.

"And just what makes you think we are _corrupting_ him? Isn't it all his choice who he hangs with?"

"None of our group have that say," Leslie told him angrily.

"I know," Larry, Kevin, and Mathilda informed her, grimly.

"Walker's gonna be pissed, you guys," Severus told them.

"The bean sprout never gets pissed, never has, and that's what always pisses me off about him."

"Ack, I can't believe in what four and a half years isn't it?" Larry laughed.

"That's right. He traveled for four years with Cross before being knocked out and sent to us. Then we've got _plenty_ of time to let my brother create it!" Mathilda seemed excited.

"Then we can get back to keeping the promise Marian informed us of, can't we?" Scott reminded them, ignoring the others.

"Hey what are we, chopped liver?"

"More like destroyed akuma," Scott muttered, causing Kevin and Larry to laugh scaring everyone in the great hall.

"Good one, Scott! To think they could be something so unrealistic is just great!"

"Oh god, if only Marian had heard that!" Kevin agreed.

"He might have said it should be more along the lines of what happened to Skinn, Kevin."

"Aah, but I so wanted to forget that especially after Wisely tried to use me and Marian like that," Kevin frowned.

"Well I'd like to forget about my brother's craziness, but we all know how feasible that is."

"Oh, I've heard the stories and I've been sure to pass _most_ of them on to Severus, but not about the idiot's inventions all named after him," Scott assured them.

"That's worse than Ronald with my great-grandmum, you know," Severus stated. "And he walked in on them _snogging_ once!"

"Yeah, well, my brother has a good reason to be terrified when I used to try to run away to rejoin him," Mathilda admitted grimly.

"But at least you still have him," Larry sighed. "I can't even ask the old panda for help, Kevin only has us, like always, and Marian…"

"That stupid bean sprout is such a fucking _martyr_," Kevin growled then looked at the seven who didn't know about them. "Hope none of you fuckers are the same. Then you won't have to worry about stupid shit happening when everyone likes someone whose gonna die young."

"Kevin!" Mathilda admonished. "We don't know that for certain."

"He's been stalked by who knows what and he refuses to tell us. Why else would the fucking idiot go off on his own?"

"To converse with Neah? I really don't remember him being this withdrawn at _any _other Christmastime."

"Yeah well, we don't really know him, remember?" Kevin snorted. "Other than his being orphaned and dealing with Cross and being a martyr and what happened to his foster father and his prophecy and curse, what do we really know about the idiot?"

"That he can fight and play a mean poker," Larry said immediately without thinking his answer through.

"Fight my ass. It's his fault he almost died at _my _hands."

"But, Kevin, you were fighting your best friend!"

"He seized being that when he tried to _kill _me first," Kevin said before he stalked out of the gaping room.

"Wow, Scott. I think you found an even more dysfunctional person than even Leslie!" one of the males in the group laughed.

"I'm not that antisocial!" Leslie elbowed him in the gut.

"Nah, I think you idolized that one swordsman too much," he ignored her angry glare. "What was the guy's name? It was something oriental and embarrassing…oh yeah! Yu Kanda!"

"The guy went missing over a century ago and you keep hoping that no matter where we go we can meet someone related to him!" one of the girls laughed.

"Aah, but weren't you enamored of that redhead?"

"Hmm, oh you mean the bookman apprentice. He had an amazing brain you know. I found one of his 'records.' Let's just say, my wits pale in comparison."

The seven didn't notice Larry's suddenly red face as they continued to speak obliviously about their past identities.

"Hmm, but I thought you said you loved the redhead and you would rock his world?" Leslie arched a brow.

"I thought you were asleep when I told you that!" Sarina whined.

"And I thought you were mute," Leslie glared at the girl.

"I really don't care," Mathilda suddenly spoke. "It's not as though if they're from more than a century ago _we're_ likely to meet them. If they're wizards like we are, then we aren't going to meet these guys that became famous and were _alleged _hunks."

"Someone's jealous," Sarina laughed.

"Have you _met _her brother?" Larry asked, previous embarrassment forgotten. "It's that she _can't _meet hunks or have a crush."

"Shut up, Larry," Mathilda glared at her redheaded one-eyed friend. "My brother has a good reason to _cling_ and you know it."

"Aah, Mathilda, why do you think he wanted us to go home? He doesn't think we'd let you get married without him, does he?"

"He doesn't want me getting _married_ at all. After the amount of time I was stuck away from him, do you really blame him?"

"I'm terrified of meeting the guy," Severus laughed, "especially if what Scott says is true." He shivered visibly.

"Brother's not _that _bad," Mathilda smiled at the wizard.

"He goes crazy every time Reever says you've even _looked _at any guy like you like him," Larry teased her.

"Shut _up_, Larry," she glared at him.

"I can't wait to meet him. Maybe he can help me, like Marian has. It would be nice to make more friends you know."

"Just be careful of Johnny and Tapp. They're still a little…sensitive about what happened when Marian learned about Neah originally," Mathilda told Scott and Severus.

"I thought Tapp…" Scott didn't finish.

"We've explained that, didn't we?" Larry laughed.

"What _are _you talking about?" Leslie demanded.

"It's personal," Larry and Mathilda answered simultaneously.

"Scott, you're coming with us," Leslie growled, glaring at Mathilda.

"No, he's not," Marian said from the doorway. Kanda stood near him, scowl in place.

"Forget about taking the stupid newbie, girly," Kanda spoke.

"And who are you to tell me he's _not_ coming with us?" Leslie glared at Marian.

"Don't try a glaring contest with me, Leslie. I've had a _lot_ more practice than you. And I even have a _constant_ competitor. I don't lose."

"Marian, calm down. Please don't challenge her," Scott spoke, slightly frightened.

"I told you before, I don't lose," Marian spoke. "Sorry about my outburst earlier, Mathilda, Larry. I hadn't quite caught up with our circumstances. I'm sorry, my comrades."

"You're _such _an idiot, Marian," Mathilda smiled at him.

"Please don't take a leaf out of Cross's book," Marian asked, shuddering.

"Don't worry. Yuu will keep you in line. It's why he's here," Larry laughed forgetting about their audience.

"Don't call me that, stupid rabbit," Kevin managed through gritted teeth.

"They're bringing dementors in for us to learn about next semester."

"I thought they were waiting until next year when they brought in those veterans to teach us?" Mathilda looked surprised.

"Some prisoners escaped again. They aren't sure, but there's rumors that a few ex-aurors turned evil and are now following a guy as evil as the Earl and Noah," Marian informed them.

"That's not good," Mathilda sighed as she plopped into her seat. Kevin and Marian sat beside her as Scott, Larry, and Severus sat across from them. "Are they introducing us to boggarts too?"

"They're keeping those for next year for us. It'll be two years for you, Scott," Marian smiled at his friends.

"Yeah, but this idiot has to keep his stupid mind on what the hell he's doing here and now or we might have issues."

"Yeah, well, I have to hope the science department can create that arm for me. It's going to be hard going through it again," Marian smiled at his friends, ignoring the seven modern exorcists glaring at the small group and the mass exodus by the rest of their audience.

"_What _are you guys talking about?" Leslie demanded again.

"More personal stuff," Larry answered without looking at her. Continuing his conversation with his friends, he asked, "So what are you doing about the Hat's mission for us?"

"That's easy. I've been using the library to learn everything I could about the history of this place. It appears that before they built Hogwarts on this land it was a previous home of the Order. That is before they were invaded by the Earl and his minions. When that happened several of our kind became like Dark and passed on."

"No," Mathilda looked horror-stricken.

"I think there's more below the lake, but I can't seem to perfect the Bubblehead Charm to investigate."

"You're an idiot. Why don't you just ask Komui? He'll probably know something. He did know the names of every single person that had been used in the experiments when I was a girl before he joined the science department," Mathilda reminded him.

"But I don't think you realize how much harder it's been to reach him and speak with him since _that _night," Marian looked at the table.

"He doesn't hate you or anything. He was as happy as the rest of us to see you again."

"But I'm afraid I can't be as he remembers me or any of you guys."

"You look and talk and act like the stupid bean sprout, therefore you must be the stupid bean sprout, even if you are only twelve or thirteen," Kanda scowled.

"Well, you talk, act, and look like BaKevin, so you must be BaKevin," Marian glared at his friend.

The other four just sighed as the two began a staring contest, or rather, _glaring _contest.

"At least he didn't correct his name again," Larry laughed.

"Yeah, we really don't need to see their competition for the trillionth time," Mathilda sighed. "I think even the guys at home are getting tired of it."

"Usually you stop them, you know," Larry reminded her.

"I'm getting tired of it."

"Scott, you're coming with us," Leslie reiterated, reminding the group of her group's presence.

"No, he's not, Leslie. _Please_ don't make me remind you," Marian pleaded.

"What are you doing, Marian?" Mathilda asked.

"Nothing that need concern you. Scott is a living human being. A creature that has emotions and free will. He will choose if he wants to go with you over the holidays, but he was invited to join us over the summer and without being coerced he accepted. He knew the dangers. Severus on the other hand received no choice. He seriously wanted to be our friends from day one and stumbled upon a few things so he gets the honor of joining us over the summer. None of you are invited."

"Are you nearing a PMS cycle, Marian? I swear you're more emotional than any female I've ever met," Leslie responded snidely.

"Marian can we go back to the common room? I'm sure we've still got things to do before we get our holiday break," Scott spoke up.

Neither Marian nor Leslie paid him any heed.

Allen's eyes flashed gold, "I don't care how much you _think_ you know or care about, you are a disgrace to your people. Anti-socialism is accepted when you have a good reason and are well-known for it. It doesn't become _you _in the least and I must say I'm glad that I don't have to deal with you outside of this school. Even _Kevin_ is easier to deal with than you."

"What happened with your eyes? I don't think anyone else's eyes have ever changed color and I _know _yours never have," Leslie glared at him.

"I've also not stood up for myself before now, but if I'm going to be picked on its _not _by some disillusioned girl who _thinks_ she can act like someone she idolizes and get away with treating _everyone_ else like idiots."

"I have no clue _what_ you're talking about."

"Kanda Yu," Marian smiled. "The samurai who hated life itself and still protected the world while claiming to do his job. One of my acquaintances allegedly met the idiot. He'd given some stupid story about the local witch being a demon that only he and others like him could defeat. It was a good bedtime story."

Kevin hit him on the head. "I'm not an idiot, bean sprout," he growled softly enough that only Marian heard him.

"Who said I was speaking of you, Kevin?" Marian demanded. "I was thinking of Gozu. I'm sure you remember him. He passed away a few years ago, but as I remember it he claimed he had met a guy that saved him from a demon _pretending_ to be a witch. You really should have listened to the way he told the story. Kind of makes a person wonder if the stories he'd been told by others who'd met that BaKanda were true."

"Why you little piece of _shit_!" Kevin yelled unsheathing his sword from wherever he'd hidden it. Marian didn't seem to notice.

"Why are you so temperamental about some _ancient_ guy? He's not even alive anymore," Marian teased.

"He's not some idiot or whatever other insulting name you can come up with for a samurai-like man!" Kevin yelled loud enough to gain other people's attention.

"Do you actually care? About someone _other_ than yourself?" Larry joked.

"Stupid fucking rabbit," Kevin growled.

"Trix are for kids!"

His year mates and the wizard looked at him like he was strange.

"Seriously, man? You're going to quote that commercial?" Scott asked.

"Commercial?" Mathilda asked, slightly confused.

"The Trix commercials from like the 1990's. They were allegedly funny, in America. People at the Order tend play them all the time," Scott chuckled. "They also say that it would be wonderful if the best group ever hadn't just disappeared."

"Are you telling them about that?" Leslie demanded, the entire group on edge.

Marian, Larry, Mathilda, and Kevin ignored her.

"We've already told you, it was unforeseen," Marian smiled at Scott, "besides, I find being here now is going to be infinitely better than anywhere else I've ever been."

"We've got Kevin actually taking an interest in being _nice_ on his own, not because he must," Larry laughed, jumping up and down.

"Larry, down," Marian growled at him.

"Okay, sheesh, no need to get the Clown out," he pouted.

"It wouldn't come out for about another four years anyway. Maybe four and a half. I'm not really sure," Marian shrugged. "There was a lot going on then."

"Well, the good news is that this is us, and I doubt we're going to get things fixed. We'll have to get used to this life instead," Mathilda smiled.

"Well, at least you still have your brother, Mathilda, though I'm not so sure that's a good thing," Marian flinched, confusing Leslie's group, but his year mates ignored it.

"It's Komui. I doubt even death would separate us for long anymore."

"God has his or her laughs," Lavi smiled. "I wonder if Gramps was happy at his end?"

"He sought what he loved, idiot rabbit," Kevin growled as he stood to leave the table. "These idiot's holiday begins in what, three days?"

"Tomorrow, Kevin," Severus corrected.

"It's already so late in the year?" Marian asked, distracted.

"Yep."

"We really do need to get on what the Sorting Hat spoke of," Marian started shaking his head.

"Is Neah giving you problems, Marian?"

"He thinks I'm too soft, just like you and _him,_"Marian muttered.

"You _are _too soft. You let that stupid _doll _in Mater last long enough to sing one last song to her _dying _companion while we _had _to _protect _them. Then you let yourself get your eye injured in Germany while _Mathilda_ was paralyzed or comatose or whatever _and _you refused to defend yourself until that _child_ forced that soul to self-destruct. _Then _you yelled at Mathilda for _not _telling you. Then you and Larry went to find your Master and were side-tracked because of Aleister, where you caused a _heck _of a _fire_. Then you take a gang of _hustlers _for _everything_ they've got _just _to give them their clothes back. _After that_, you end up meeting the _demented_ girl's _uncle_ in _Asia_, nearly getting yourself killed _two _more times. Then when you're rehabilitating in the _clinic branch_ you're in and _they _get attacked, you _try _to aid when you're _useless _only to learn about the plans of the _enemy _and _try _to _follow _them. Then when we _finally_ get into their territory, I heard from Larry that you let the _demented _girl _kiss _you when you went to _dine _with her and her uncle to escape their _falling apart_ ship. It doesn't help that while you claim we _aren't _friends you, the idiot bean sprout, played that _awful _haunting melody! And you want to say you_ aren't_ what we _claim_ you are?" Kevin's voice raised as he continued, scaring everyone except Marian. "What part of '_get rid of the fucking enemy_' did you not understand? Damn it, you should have _died _in Mater!"

"Then _why_ did _you _save me? Admit it, Kevin. You aren't as heartless as you try to make yourself seem. Don't try to lie. Remember, I've seen because of Neah's brother or cousin or whatever relation the multi-eyed guy was," Marian spoke calmly and smiling.

"Is this kid_ crazy_?" Leslie whispered to whomever was standing next to her (Sarina.) "Even_ I _wouldn't try to talk back to_ this _pissed off Kevin."

"Then you'll stop trying to force Scott to do what he doesn't want. I don't think we want another Suman occurrence," Marian turned to her.

Mathilda shuddered visibly in the quiet hall.

"I think we should go back and work on some of that homework, Marian," Scott spoke.

"Black Marian sucks," Larry muttered.

"No worse than his demon Master," Mathilda whispered back.

"Please don't bring him up. Neah, either. Not until the New Year."

"Why?" Kevin demanded.

"If my remaining _alive _didn't _rely_ on you, he'd have_ killed_ you long ago. It seems he took advantage of much while I had temporary amnesia."

"But _could_ he have made it permanent?" Mathilda asked worried as Marian led the way out of the room.

His newfound maturity with bouts of darkness scared the teachers and other students, and unbeknownst to Marian, they were getting their new teachers a semester earlier. The entirety of the rest of the holiday break, they rarely saw Marian or Scott which caused Kevin to be even angrier than normal.


	9. New Teachers

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**.

It was the first day of the second half of the school year's classes and Slytherin and Gryffindor had double Potions together. As they walked in, they found they had a new teacher. She had brown hair that reached her shoulders and a no-nonsense aura.

Upon the students taking her seats, she introduced herself as Professor Weasley. She warned them that she wasn't as easy-going as her predecessor, Professor Torento. In fact, she had informed them that she was much worse than any they may have previously met. Kevin had snorted, catching her attention.

"A disbeliever, I hear?"

"Forgive BaKevin, Professor Weasley. He always believes the _worst_ in everyone," Marian spoke without looking at her. The class collectively gasped.

"At least I don't _scream _in my sleep for a _dead _man, leave his _friends _for a few weeks _without _a word and _still _smile as I tell a _new _fucking _teacher _that an _alleged _friend is an _ass _to _everyone_," Kevin scowled.

"_I_ didn't hold out for _years _searching for my brother-slash-_best _friend only to _kill _him because he was _murdering _everyone he could including me," Marian still didn't look up from his book.

"I had _no _choice, idiot bean sprout, he was a _murderer_. He had been _warped _and you have _no _idea what it was like!"

Marian looked at Kevin. "I don't scream for Mana," he stated calmly. "In fact I don't even sleep properly, much like you, I bet. You meditate. You go through the changes the same as before. So do the others. With Neah and Scott's help, I've been able to circumvent some of my past while still being as I was. Sorry if I know better and didn't want to be in the _infirmary_ for _weeks _on end."

"Do you think we care? It would have been nice to actually speak with you over the break."

"You should have come to the Chamber," Marian smiled brightly.

"Unlike Neah, I can't manage to speak animal."

"He _is _a musician, you know."

"He's a _fucking _Noah! Do you realize he wants to _kill _us when our _usefulness _is over and he's going to make you _kill _someone too. You, the goddamn _bleeding _heart who couldn't even _defend _yourself against Road because she was a _fucking human_! I wish you would wise up, Marian! The world isn't and has _never _been rainbows and smiles! You _fucking _idiot!" Kevin stood as though he was going to leave only to be stopped by Marian speaking.

"Trust me I know it's not," Marian said grimly. "Life is ended, otherwise there is no reason to try to survive to leave a legacy of some kind. To be honest I'm surprised I'm still alive. I was suppose to die young, and for us that means the same age as Daisya was."

"Don't speak his name, dammit!" Kevin growled angrily.

"Then don't speak about Neah. You don't know him nor what he's done."

"I'm sure the class has enjoyed your _despicable_ show, but I think for interrupting the teacher you both lose fifteen points for your houses," Professor Weasley finally spoke.

The class groaned, but Kevin and Marian only shrugged. She then informed the class of what they would be doing as she was their new teacher. When they paired up to work on their potions, she noticed that like when Harry and Ron would pair up, Marian and Kevin paired up. They seemed completely in tune with each other, anticipating what the other would need without looking up or speaking. The vibe in the class was that terrorized nervousness, like when Snape was in a particularly bad mood _and _Draco was being a royal git.

As she walked down the aisles, she heard Kevin ask Marian so softly, she wasn't sure she actually heard him, "Where were you really, Moyashi, and I don't care if you sneaked off, before you try to rant. Just like I don't give a damn about your curse or your fucking arm."

"I was visiting some old haunts and then getting more information on the history of the area. There aren't any akuma nearby, but there was one in Hogsmeade."

"Which did you use?" Kevin asked, unaware that the professor was listening intently.

"The Chamber's. It was the least likely to be compromised. I performed for about a week with a circus in the nearest Muggle town, but I didn't get to where I really wanted to go, so you'll have to forgive me if I'm slightly less _me _than usual," he stopped as he flinched visibly and looked around automatically.

"He's not here and there aren't any," Kevin sighed remembering one of their many private conversations in which he had informed him that this was when he had been with Cross, dealing with the general's debts and doing all sorts of crazy things. "You know, I don't think we've ever actually seen you run at top speed."

Marian chuckled, "Of course not. It wouldn't be fair to those who can't defend themselves if I were to just disappear into the distance while they were stuck trying to defend against monsters they couldn't defeat. It's my job _not _to run away. Besides, when you run, it's a heck of a lot harder to stop to smell the roses."

Kevin didn't say anything as he stirred their potion counterclockwise. Professor Weasley thought about what they'd said. She knew that her best friend's great grandson was a friend of theirs and she was afraid of what they'd been saying about leaving the school. She didn't want Severus to behave as she and her friend's had _had_ to.

As the students prepared to leave, Professor Weasley asked to see both Marian and Kevin. She caught the look that passed between the two. It was one that spoke volumes of hidden secrets.

"I don't know what the two of you think you're doing, but I doubt that getting Severus involved is a good idea."

"Professor Weasley, Severus chose to involve himself and since he did, we are doing everything we can to keep him safe. I'm sure you understand when I tell you it's much better to control a person's actions of curiosity by indulging what can be than to have them sneaking around trying to find out and possibly misinterpreting what they've found out," Marian sighed.

"Speak for yourself, bean sprout," Kevin snarled.

"My name is Marian, Bakevin," Marian growled. "How many times do I have to remind you?"

"Until the fucking bastard trying to take over you is gone completely," Kevin answered without hesitation, like they'd been through the argument a thousand times. "If I could I'd have already taken you out."

"You could have let me die in Mater," Marian reminded him forgetting about their teacher being right there.

"It was a momentary weakness when I was trying to destroy the fucking akuma. You know retrieving the Innocence was our mission and you _almost _let it go."

"So what. If you had stopped you'd have realized that the doll-"

"Detention, Walker, Sword. Tonight, meet me here. Try not to receive any other detentions. I can guarantee Professors Weasley, Potter, and Malfoy won't go easy on you."

"Why are we receiving detention?" Marian asked.

"For consistently ignoring your teacher. I don't care how smart and able the two of you are. You need to listen to others and not block the world out."

"I would if I could, Professor, but a fucking rabbit seems to make that impossible and I swear if he braids my hair again I will fucking cut his head off."

"No you won't Bakevin. You'll threaten him until someone distracts you from it. Then you'll leave him alone and pretend to sulk just like when he calls you Yuu. I still don't see why he courts his death with you."

"Because he's a fucking idiot," Kevin scowled.

"Well, at least he's _here_. Unlike others we know. You don't have to deal with Tiedoll either, do you?" Marian stated.

"What good it does us. We don't have any aid other than you and you're useless for how many years yet?"

"It really doesn't matter to me about your petty squabbles," Professor Weasley cut them off before they could continue. "What matters is that neither of you have respect for others."

It was at that moment that Nearly Headless Nick floated into the room.

"Hermione!" he sounded happy, "I heard a rumor from Peeves that you guys were here."

"Only for a few years. There's a few students that seem to have terrified a few other teachers and most of the students.

Kevin and Marian gaped at their new potions teacher.

"Hmm? But they happen to be as good a lot as you, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville were. They don't ignore us ghosts like others do. In fact, Marian is a bit like Luna."

"Is he?" Professor Weasley turned a speculative eye towards the two students.

"He's such a polite boy. Too bad about his foster father, but he's not any worse. It's like he already dealt with it. Then Kevin and Larry and Mathilda are different but nice in their own ways," he answered her. "Although there are seven students in their first year that have no idea what they want to do about these unknowns, as they constantly refer to them, stealing Scott away from them. I think that Leslie may be a tad too much like Tom."

"That's not very good. I guess it might be a good thing we came in," she sighed. "If it weren't for Neville, I think we'd have all declined, except Malfoy. I don't know what possessed him to come teach."

"His wife threatened him," a voice said smugly from the door.

"Ron! Aren't you teaching Muggle Studies this hour?"

"Harry mentioned that he was missing a couple of students. When it was mentioned that you had kept them after class, he apparently thought you might have been lecturing them about how school is so much more important than life itself. Like you did us, so many times."

"I think Professor Weasley was getting the point across about disrupting class for personal disputes, Professor," Marian quickly apologized for them.

"Well, get to DADA. Professor Potter has already started class. He couldn't wait," Ron told them.

Kevin and Marian shuffled out of the classroom aware of the eyes boring into them. When they got into the hall they nodded in silent communication to each before Peeves was seen.

"Students out of class?" he asked happily.

"Peeves," Marian spoke, causing him to freeze. "I think I proved decently enough the last time we tangled that there is no reason to try to cause me or my friends trouble."

"Oh, it's Walker. Sorry, didn't realize it was you. Guess I'll be going to…" he didn't finish as he floated as quickly as he could to get away.

"What did you do to him?" Kanda growled.

"It was before _that _night, so I wasn't sure what was going on. I had all these jumbled memories and one was that my arm helped souls that are trapped on earth. I took my glove off just that one time when Peeves was about to drop some dung bombs on me. He dropped the dung bombs…but then he was begging me not to do anything. Neah told me to tell him to leave all of us alone, so I did," Marian shrugged as they continued towards DADA.

Upon reaching their DADA class, they both paled. In front of them stood a man with black hair, his back to them explaining how they were lucky that even though their teachers had been changed it wouldn't be like his second year where he and his friends had been forced to learn on the fly since the books used were worthless.

From behind they thought they were looking at an old enemy, but when he turned to them, they saw the scar and green eyes. The sighed in relief as they scurried to their seats. They weren't held after nor were they singled out in class.


	10. Late Night Meeting

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**A/N: Yes, when they saw Harry Potter their first thought was that their new DADA teacher was really Tyki Mykk in disguise, even thought they heard Ron refer to him as Harry.**

* * *

><p>That night when they met up in the Room of Requirement, Kevin and Marian noticed the glares from the others in their small group of six. Severus would leave with Kevin, usually, as Scott would usually leave with Marian. Neither said anything as they settled in.<p>

"The akuma are in Hogsmeade," Marian spoke first.

"And your world's heroes are getting involved and trying to warn us away from you," Kevin growled.

"Don't worry about them. Unless Great-grandpa brought his map, they won't know anything."

"If he's as smart as Hermione, he brought the thing which means he'll know our real names and ask us about them at some point."

"How was your detention?" Mathilda asked.

"Boring," Kevin stated.

"She made us write lines about performing proper manners, but I managed to plant two seeds today. One to get their old heroes to aid us and the other to throw Leslie and her followers off our historical scents. She's not stupid no matter how much I wish it were so."

"Why do you want their help?" Severus demanded.

"They fought through the war with Voldemort, Sev. Marian is a master at strategies when he chooses to be. Why do you think we refuse to play poker with him?" Larry laughed.

"Because he cheats," Scott stated bluntly. "It's the only way he can win when he's so _un_lucky normally."

"Marian and Neah are our hope just as Harry was theirs. They both have scars and they both have curses and connections to the enemy, though Harry's is now null and void," Mathilda explained. "They both have friends that are concerned for them, even if Marian's don't show it. Harry is actually close to a century younger than Marian,"

"Marian is younger," Marian spoke. "The identity of _Marian _Walker is only a couple of years old, Mathilda. _Allen _Walker is almost a century older. Neah is immortal. Not that any of that really matters because the human body even of a Noah can be destroyed so that only memories are left."

"Well, have we figured out what the deal is about what the Hat wants in connection with our mission?"

"We were never given the specifics about our mission," Marian reminded them. "Komui conveniently keeps getting side-tracked."

"Well, if you two keep getting into petty squabbles," Mathilda threatened.

"I can't keep doing this," Marian sighed as he sat down. "The Noah are going to refind us as will that…thing. I don't want to stop walking for too long. I can't _not _move."

"Who the hell are you running from?" Kevin demanded.

"Apocryphos," Marian finally admitted, "but I can't tell you anymore about that…thing. I don't know much about it. The Noah saved me from death by…it. It killed Master."

"I thought you claimed he was too much of a demon to be killed?" Larry asked.

"He is, but that…thing…could also be called a demon."

"Apocryphos?" Scott asked confused while the others looked at him slightly confused.

"It's an Innocence that guards the Heart," was all Marian said before gripping his head as though in pain. "The akuma are getting closer. If there is a good reason other than trying to hide us and integrate us into this new time period, we need to find it and fast."

"Miranda isn't going to be happy if anything happens to us as a result of the malfunction," Mathilda stated. "We _have _to relearn everything."

"Didn't we do that before coming here?" Lavi grinned at her. "I mean what was the point of all that extensive learning if we were just going to be sent to school."

"There's a reason we were sent here. It's the magic that this school has. Having been an Order headquarters in the past, it still resonates with Innocence residue," Marian sighed. "Larry when _will _your hair turn red again?"

"When I decide to dye it back," Larry shrugged the lie off. "What was that about Innocence residue?"

"When this was Order headquarters before, it was infiltrated. A few dozen Innocence were destroyed in the battle that ensued. After that battle, like with us, Headquarters were moved. Anyway, a couple thousand years later, four witches and wizards decided this would be the perfect spot to build a school and teach a hidden society. And it was. They didn't know as they built that the destroyed Innocence agreed with their ideals. It's a safe place for people to learn and live. The hat when it was made, somehow got some of the destroyed Innocence woven into it which is how it's able to detect when the school is in danger. I feel that next year, we'll be dealing with more than we ever thought possible from the Innocence that was lost. It wants to be known. Those who've become successful Headmasters and Headmistresses have been unknowing accommodators."

"How did you find out all of this?" Severus asked.

"It helps to befriend the ghosts," Marian shrugged. "Though threatening to relieve Peeves of his existence probably helped."

"Speaking of, was anyone around when you did that?" Kevin demanded.

"Of course not. I was supposed to be in History of Magic but Professor Binns had excused me after I told him that I needed to see the Nurse because my allergy was acting up."

"He didn't catch you lying?" Scott asked, surprised.

"More than likely, Binns just didn't care. I haven't attended that stupid class once," Kevin growled.

"He actually makes history even more boring than Panda ever did," Larry laughed.

"You guys are idiots now that _they're _here," Mathilda frowned.

"It doesn't really matter, Mathilda. They're here a bit earlier than we wanted probably because of that scene we made before the holidays and they don't want Severus getting in trouble. At least Professor Weasley, Hermione doesn't."

"Does it really matter why they're here? They're fucking idiots."

"Kevin, they _are _our _teachers_. Show them a little bit of respect, please."

"There's no one I've met who deserves my respect, stupid bean sprout."

"Then pretend, Bakanda. If I'm right and Harry Potter _did _bring his map he's going to ask us questions. We aren't his enemies and we aren't using Polyjuice Potion, but we _are _using false names and to tell the truth, I'm not sure how long I can keep it up. Lavi has black hair still, but I've reverted to the appearance that you guys know, sort of."

"Can it, bean sprout. You _need _people to _like _you, and you _infuriate _me to no end, but you've pulled through on every task you've had to do up to now. What makes this one any different?"

"We don't know anything about this time. It's more than a hundred years in our future! How could we possibly manage when we don't have anything!"

"You have the Ark," Scott reminded him.

"We should return to our dorms. They're going to have patrols at night for a long while," Mathilda changed the subject.

"At least Leslie and her crew backed off tonight."

"Yeah, that argument really helped, but the fact that you two are such good friends hasn't gone unnoticed by her. She thinks you'll be fighting for only a few days."

"We can keep this charade going for quite some time when we need to," Marian shrugged.

"What charade? I hate your guts, bean sprout," Kevin growled.

"And who saved your _ass _after you killed your brother?"

"Who asked you to?"

"And my _name _is _Allen_, Bakanda!"

"But you answer so well to bean sprout that I thought it _was _your name," Scott grinned.

"Don't you dare join the 'Allen's name is Moyashi' club, Scott, cause I _will _leave you behind if you do."

"Oh, shove it, bean sprout," Kanda growled. "I'm returning to my house."

True to his word, he opened the door only to be faced with a wall.

"We've got a fucking problem," he announced as they heard voices seeping through the wall.

"I'm certain that when we used it in fifth year, it was right here, Ron," they heard Professor Weasley say.

"Yes, but the castle is constantly changing, Mione."

"I know that stupid room was here. After hunting for you bastards, then nearly dying when it burned, I ought to remember where it was."

"But when I used it as a hide out in seventh year, if there was a chance an enemy was nearby, it kept us hidden."

"So someone's using it?"

"Probably, and not because they've got a war to battle."

"That sums up what the idiots in this world think of us," Kevin growled.

"They'll try to station a guard to figure out who is here," Mathilda sounded worried.

"Then I'll have to use the ark. I'd just hoped not to. What are we going to do when the Noah catch up to where we are?"

"Hide like we've always done. We'll use magic and modern conveniences to our advantage," Larry smiled.

"Easy for you too say, you aren't wanted dead by everyone who meets you," Marian sighed.

"Hey, cheer up, it can't be that bad!" Severus laughed.

"Do you know how many _things _want me dead or fused with or for me to just disappear and stop hindering them?" Marian looked taken aback by what the wizard said. "If it weren't for the fact that I'm needed _simply _because of the akuma that _still _lurk, I'm sure I'd be dead by now."

"Could they be hearing what we say, Neville?" they heard Hermione's voice again.

"Probably, but not necessarily. I have a feeling that even if we did a late night bed-check, we wouldn't know for sure who it is. See other than Severus, there are those four second-years and eight first-years which are all suspicious. I don't know if you've noticed but everyday, Walker drinks from a special bottle at the same time. Not long after the other three do the same. They're hiding something and I think they've been sneaking out on a pretty regular basis. Hagrid thought he saw Sword in the forest over the holiday."

Marian was glaring at Kevin who shrugged.

"Well, all we could do is penalize them with detention and point loss."

"Yeah, but Walker, Sword, Hammer, and Tailor never care about the points or what the others think of them. I mean Walker is in _Slytherin; _no matter how innocent he seems, he was put there for a reason. Not that being there is a _bad_ thing, mind you, but _seriously _he's not as innocent as he looks."

"Is anyone?" they heard Professor Potter ask.

"Let's just go to bed. Whoever's in there will show signs of sleep deprivation in the morning."

Kevin, Larry, Marian, and Mathilda all snorted while Scott and Severus just looked terrified.

It was about an hour later before they left, quietly, to return to their dorms.


	11. Dyes and Ghosts

It would be about April before anyone bugged the group again. During the time before, Kevin and Marian continued having several loud arguments with each other, coming almost to blows with each other several times. They cut back on their late-night meetings. Scott managed to continue using his Innocence which was surprisingly a chain that he managed to honestly claim was the only thing left to him of his biological family. Larry continued to do research as did Marian, but in April was when Lavi decided his hair needed to return to its bright red color.

It was at breakfast as the owl post came in and each of them received their first letters _ever _that someone commented on his hair.

"Why would you make it so bright?" a Ravenclaw female asked as the ghosts floated through like always.

The students had yet to realize that even Peeves seemed to skirt around the four second years and their two friends.

"I kind of left the bleach in a bit too long," he lied as he noticed the exorcists in Ravenclaw narrow their eyes at him. Leslie more than Damien.

"I couldn't believe that Sarina brought that old photo with her!" Leslie whispered loud enough to Damien that she could be heard by the new redhead. "I mean I didn't think she was quite that enamored of the redhead!"

"I don't really think she brought it, Les," Damien sighed miserably.

He'd been stuck between the two bickering girls since the last time they'd all argued with Marian and his crew about Scott returning with which group he chose. Not that Damien cared about Scott, but when HQ wanted something they got it or the betrayers were killed upon return. It had been that way since they'd had to be secretive do to mass hysteria and issues against anything suspiciously like magic, again.

"Even if I had," said girl was walking by just at that moment, "I wouldn't let you know about it."

Larry quickly ducked out of the room remembering that Sarina had once been enamored of his picture and brains, and hoping she'd gotten over it.

"Now? You choose now, idiot rabbit?" Kanda stalked him out of the room to demand.

"Mr. Potter said we weren't doing boggarts this year," he tried to change the subject.

"I don't give a fuck, rabbit. What I care about is our cover almost being blown because you decide _now _is a good time to change your hair color!"

"Kevin, could you keep it down," Marian yelled at his friends, "I've already got to deal with one headache I don't want to deal with others. I think red hair suits you, Larry."

Larry blanched, but didn't answer as he headed to go to either the library or class.

At lunch, Sarina was glaring at the flamboyant yet miserable boy. It was as though he'd been through something traumatic without really experiencing it. That afternoon during Marian and Kevin's double potions class, one of the ghosts floated in. It was Peeves.

"The Bloody Baron sent me," he said before Hermione had a chance to ask him to leave. "Marian and Kevin are required at the entrance to the castle where the carriages come in. It seems there may be some _things _that have arrived for them.

Marian wasn't surprised, but Kevin let out angrily, "What the fuck!"

"Did you happen to _read _your letter this morning?"

"Why would I read _any_thing that sister-complex scientist writes? It was probably going on and on about keeping boys away from his sister or he'd send one of his robots, which would break down at the barrier."

"Well that was the bulk of the letter, but he said he was sending one of the scientists with some packages for us. Information or concoctions or something. I really couldn't understand it. But from what I gathered it was important, so I asked the Bloody Baron if he wouldn't mind helping me keep an eye open for it. Thank you, Peeves. Go back to your pranks, now."

Peeves immediately left the room in the opposite direction that Marian and Kevin did.

Marian nor Kevin returned to class, and unbeknownst to their classmates Larry and Mathilda were summoned from their classes by their house ghosts. After getting their packages, they quickly moved to the Room of Requirement.

Once there, they all decided to stay out of sight for the rest of the day considering that there would be questions about why the ghosts would obey Marian and his friends.

The packages contained new concoctions that would only require once a week drinks. There was enough to get them through the rest of the year. In the Room of Requirement, Larry commented that the new exorcists were extremely stupid seeing as they'd kind of been obvious about who they were _if_ the "idiot seven" as Kanda would refer to them, seriously thought about it.

"They are trying to do more than us, remember?" Marian had asked. "We had a year to get acclimated and for them to learn our little idiosyncracies. The fact that Kevin heals faster than it takes for him to get to the infirmary. They don't know that yet. They aren't certain. Not yet. Until we can be certain of our mission, I think we're stuck here."


	12. Secrets and Arguments

When they went to class the next day, Marian was asked what they'd received.

"New and improved ways to keep boys from dealing with Mathilda without detracting from her beauty," Marian lied without hesitation as they heard someone laughing nearby.

"I can't believe Almathea would lie about joining a circus of all things! She's so crazy to think mum would have been happy about it!"

"There's a circus nearby?" he asked excitedly.

"Back over the holidays. We went to see it," the girl answered angrily. "Other than one performer, it was boring. But one performer was absolutely hilarious. It didn't matter what he did. Anyway, my older cousin said one of the students from here had joined and my mum went absolutely crazy. Said ever since McGonagall retired the standards have become lax. What good is being in a circus anyway?"

"It's the magic of bringing smiles to others," Marian whispered, almost unheard. "It's the fun of hiding who you are and maybe even what you are to bring joy to people of all ages and different backgrounds. It's the thrill of seeing different areas and getting to have fun while doing so. It's the false feeling of not being chained to stuff you don't want to do."

"Marian, can we go check on Moyashi?" Kevin stopped him from continuing. His appeal surprised everyone within hearing distance. It had become well-known that the two were almost constantly arguing.

"Why would I want to check on your bird? My Mana is much better than your Moyashi. He doesn't get sick as often either," Marian had quickly gotten into their false argument roles.

"Well at least my Moyashi doesn't need some stupid gloves to keep from having an allergic reaction," Kanda snarled at his friend.

"At least my Mana doesn't have to rely on a socially inept, sword hugging retard!"

"You leave Mugen out of this, bean sprout!" Kevin yelled murderously.

"I think Marian took it a little too far," Larry sighed. "Mathilda, please stop them before it gets any worse."

"I think I'll let my brother's latest invention do it, Larry," Mathilda responded causing both boys to pale significantly.

A crowd had formed, watching the latest argument between the so-called ex-friends. Within that crowd was just about every student in Hogwarts. It was when the boys paled that the male Professor Potter appeared.

"It's Harry Potter," Marian could hear some of the students near him whispering. Kevin also heard.

"You'd think after as many months as he's been here teaching they'd get over their stupid fucking hero worship of the man," Kevin growled.

"It's like when we returned from Edo, Kevin," Marian grumbled. "They won't forget until after the next war especially since he's still alive. I mean look at those seven that came with Scott. They still worship in their society that BaKanda that Gozu told me about."

"I think you must have misheard the samurai's name, bean sprout," Kevin's eye was twitching as was Marian's.

"No I'm pretty sure his name was Bakanda. And he was a grumpy, beautiful, girly man, too. Just like you, when Neah and I decide to think on it."

"I'm going to kill you for that, bean sprout!" Kevin lunged at Marian who just ducked.

"You're getting slow, Bakevin," Marian taunted.

"And you both have detentions to be served tonight with me and Hagrid. Nine o'clock sharp. Meet in my classroom. We have decided that since you two don't seem to care about the points that your houses earn and consequently lose, we won't be penalizing them for your idiocy nor will you gain rewards for your houses," Professor Potter had finally spoke. "But that only goes for Misters Walker and Sword. Anyone else caught disgracing their houses will cause point deficits."

"Professor, I'm pretty sure most of these guys don't know what that means," Larry spoke up.

"Then I'm certain that you can enlighten them, Mister Hammer."

Larry groaned as he watched the professor depart. "You'd think he'd remember his own days as a rule-breaking youth. It's amazing the secrets the ghosts will give up with the right incentive."

"You didn't threaten Peeves again, did you?" Marian turned on him.

"I didn't have too. He still remembers the last time you threatened him, Marian. I don't think he'll forget it. He did say he'd never met anyone as scary as you. Did you go black?"

"He did mention that when he became a poltergeist it had something to do with a certain "D" word that when combined with my thoughts of anything relating to Master, like I was thinking that day, becomes so very disastrous," Marian mused aloud.

The crowd remaining shivered and quickly departed. When it was just Marian, Kevin, Larry, and Mathilda, they began laughing. They thought it was hilarious that everyone scattered at the thought of "Black Marian."

"You really need to stop threatening the ghosts, guys," Mathilda scolded after she was done laughing. "One of them might tell."

"Oh, we only threaten those that need it," Marian shrugged, "which means Peeves."

"Then what about the others?" Mathilda glared at her friends.

"Sir Nicholas is just glad to be referred to by his name and not that pseudonym. The Grey Lady doesn't like to be bothered all that often especially if you're just going to ask questions and give nothing in return. The Bloody Baron actually has hopes for me, so that's not so big a deal. Myrtle has a crush on me, so I think she likes those who are polite, because she absolutely despises Kevin. Will you be appearing as Larry on his map?"

"Of course! I'm a Bookman. Identity is whatever we are for whatever reason. I'm the only one that'll show up by our current identities. It's not ideal, but it'll work. The Forest I believe is out of his map's range. But it and Hogsmeade will be on mine, so it won't be finished until after our first trip next year."

"I won't be going," Marian informed them.

"Why don't we wait until next year and then you can make up your mind," Larry stopped Mathilda's arguments before they began. "Anyway we need to get to class. Don't you and Yuu have it together, again?"

"Call me that again, stupid rabbit, and I swear I will gut you!" Kevin threatened as he pulled Marian in the direction of their class while Mathilda went to hers and Larry laughingly went to the library, again.

None of them had noticed the presence of the professor who had listened while remaining under his invisibility cloak after he'd been seen to go out of sight. He'd made sure to listen and remember every word, otherwise Hermione would have his head.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: First I'd like to apologize for the long wait. My computer crashed. Luckily I had back-ups of the chapters I was trying to get to a point that I was happy with them. The problem after that, however, was that I don't trust working on other computers. Now just last week I got my new computer, but I've been taking the last week getting used to Windows 8. It isn't that hard, but I've really not been doing a lot on a computer, using my Kindle to keep reading fanfics.<strong>

**I decided to look at the past reviews of this story and realized there are several things that may need to be addressed. First of in the first review I was given, which was by _One of the Colorless_ it was mentioned about the missing years and no definite timeframe. Originally I didn't want to give a definite timeframe, but I watched the anime for D. Grayman before reading the manga. Much of what I had was based on the anime and not the manga. Most importantly I did not want the akuma being able to avoid Allen's cursed eye, so I had them disappear from the past during the huge batle just after Kanda killed Alma. The reason Allen took three years to travel was in part dodging the Order because he'd helped Kanda and his friend Alma to escape the Black Order. The reason why Kanda is still alive is in part connected to when they entered the ark to take on the Noah. When Allen brought the ark back, those who were brought back in that way would find their lives tied to both the ark and Allen. Yes, that means Krory's life was tied in this way as well. If and when Allen dies, so will Krory and Kanda. They realized it with Kanda, but not Krory. When Miranda's Innocence reacted to her wish for them to all go to a more accepting and peaceful time, it drew upon her memories of those who were transported. This explains why Krory is no longer tied to Allen, why Tapp is alive again and why Kanda can heal quickly without a cost to his life. She never knew about Kanda's curse. She did however learn about the changes after the whole thing in the ark.**

**In a review by _Kohikari_, he or she mentions their ages. Since Allen's exact birthday is unknown, I decided to make one up. In my mind it's actually an early summer birthday. This is also why I managed to get away with some of the other changes I made. I actually did look back in the anime to see what ages approximately he was when different things occurred and when Mana died. I made it so that Mana died in the fall as indicated in the anime. Allen was thought to be fifteen, but I thought, what if he's actually older? What if he just doesn't know because as a child he had no concept of time due to his orphaned status? Or perhaps the years before Mana were such a blur due to the abuse he suffered, he claimed an age based on what he thought he appeared to be? Any of these are plausible, and since I have very few memories that recall clearly from before I was about five, I decided to make him older than people believed. Nobody had met Allen before he had gone to the Headquarters and no accurate birth date made it easier to believe.**

**Also, the concoction that Komui used on them was the Black Order's version of a de-aging potion. It used a person's biology to determine when they were the age they were being changed to. I kept the Christmas is Allen's official birthday which is why he becomes morose in his second year. Mana died more than a month prior to that in Allen's memories and everything is geared to react extremely similar to the first time around. However, he managed not to remain bedridden because Neah had released Allen's memories which he was supposed to retain, but didn't. Neah had locked them away until he felt Allen would be okay.**

**In the same review, Allen's eye color is mentioned. I'm not technically color-blind, but every now and then I've noticed that I'll think something is one specific color or shade and everybody else claims it's a slightly different color. I also used mainly the anime for information regarding the D. Grayman characters. When I looked closely it seemed as though the color went back and forth from silver-gray to bluish-gray. I chose bluish-gray.**

**The final thing to be addressed in that particular review is that they'd had a lot of loud conversations. Very few have been loud enough to actually be heard by anyone else. The only ones that have were ones that they wanted heard or when Harry was wearing his invisibility cloak. they've been whispering most of the rest of the time or out of earshot of everyone else, mostly. At least that was how it was supposed to be, but I was looking back through what I had posted and realized that **_Kohikari _was right. The modern exorcists are incredibly dense to the clues that are being given within hearing range. Especially after Allen is returned his memories.****

**As I was reading back through, I noticed a discrepancy in Ch 4. To explain why even though Allen thinks Mana is still alive even though he isn't yet he knows how to handle the carnivorous plant, Neah let him on the secret. In Ch. 7, Scott was using his Innocence to hide the weapons of Kanda and Lavi from everyone and the entire group from others. It was even more taxing than usual, but he'd been practicing on his own where no one would know so he kept the weapons being hidden from his ex-companions.**

**Finally, there are typos and some other issues with how things changed from how I had it to how it looks. I've checked the preview each time. I'm going to miss it occasionally. 3/4 appears on some of them where the subject speaking is cut off. This is because when I typed it originally I inserted a dash. When I used the Paste from Word feature, it changed it to 3/4. I thought I caught them all before posting, but I didn't. I will be going back eventually to fix these, but it may be a while.**


	13. Teachers Meeting

"So they aren't who they say they are?" Hermione Weasley, nee Granger sat in the staff room with several veterans of the Voldemort War.

"The more important thing is that they know about the map and their recreating it for some reason," Harry Potter tried to stress this bit of news. "You don't think Severus?"

"No, Severus didn't show it to them," Neville Longbottom spoke. "Those four are...unique, to say the least."

"What was Larry called again?"

"He said he was a Bookman, whatever the bloody hell that is and he called Kevin you and Kevin got pretty pissed about it."

"And when those two argued that first day in my class, they mentioned akuma. I think they were just calling demons by the Japanese name, seeing as Kevin and Mathilda are Oriental in ethnicity, but Walker had that nightmare then his appearance changed. I think I'll be doing some research."

"I don't think so, Mione," Ronald Weasley challenged. "You aren't spending every spare moment in the bloody library!"

"As much as I hate to admit it," Draco Malfoy spoke up, "Weasel's right. These four are even more cunning than You-Know-Who. And with Bledle having broken out, we really can't be short any possible defenders."

"Luckily, I managed to convince them to hold off on the dementors until next year. We're going to have issues of course, but hopefully, we can keep our third year from occurring for them," Harry managed to stop the fight before it began.

"If they are supporters of Bledle's master, we're going to have problems, you know that right?" Draco spoke again.

"And if we don't keep Ginny and Luna up-to-date on what we're doing, they'll bloody well murder us," Ron reminded them.

The group of assembled teachers nodded. Hagrid was just happy to see his three best friends of all time again even if it was under the threat of a new evil wizard. Luna and Ginny were listening through a two-way mirror that they had used when they'd been fighting that last year to keep in contact with Dumbledore's brother. When he'd passed on, he'd left all his stuff to the Potter's, who really didn't need anymore of anything considering that Harry was rich.

They were all unaware of the small snitch hiding above them. It was recording them and what they said to show Marian and the others at a later date.

"Harry, we can't go easy on them."

"They may not be working for the enemy. They could be an outside party like Muggles were in the Voldemort War. We still haven't ascertained what Bledle's master's goal is nor who he is."

"I think I can help with that a little," Draco sighed. "One of my contacts informed me that Bledle's master is a past student of Durmstrang. As in about seventy-five years ago."

"And the Voldemort War was only a century ago," Hermione spoke. "So twenty-five years later, Bledle's master sets up to what?"

"Don't know yet, but apparently this student was a little strange. It seems she had an odd fascination with destroying in as sadistic a manner as possible anyone who upset her. Being a bit closer to the Vikings, it seems Durmstrang was the perfect place for Svana Valdis Quele, aka Queen Valla Divas," Draco's voice dripped with hatred.

"So why does Bledle follow her?"

"So as not to endure the sadism, most likely. Whatever this witch can do, only those who obey have survived the years without going to St. Mungo's," Draco shrugged.

"Well, I have the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs for potions now, so I guess I'll see you guys later. Don't discuss anymore of this without me!" Hermione got up and left the room.

"Is Firenze still teaching divination?"

"I don't think so, but I brought rock cakes so we can share them! Marian loves them!" Hagrid blubbered.

"Umm, I've noticed that as long as it's food, Marian will eat anything," Draco ruined the mood as he left, followed by an apologetic Harry and angry Ron.

"It's okay, Hagrid. I need to check on greenhouse four, but why don't I come by this evening and we can share a couple of steaks?"

"You're a good boy, Neville," Hagrid sobbed, "but I've got to take care of the that detention for those two tonight. We're going to the forest tonight. Maybe they won't be quite so cocky then. Potter hopes it'll help. Not to mention the acromantula are restless."

They both left, unaware that the snitch-like thing that had been hidden followed them out and then disappeared to find it's master.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I know that the canon HP characters shouldn't look quite so young, but I wanted them far enough in the future that The-Boy-Who-Lived is considered more of a legend, or at least beginning to. I also didn't want to deal with characters that would have white hair and beards. In Harry's case, it will actually be explained better in story. With Hagrid, he's a half-giant. I think that can explain it. As for the others who are still alive, it's because of what they had to put up with. Some stray spells and potions mishaps gave them a longer younger looking life. Any other questions that need answering, please feel free to inquire.<strong>


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